Producers of Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary, “2016: Obama’s America,” have informed the FBI that someone illegally uploaded the film to YouTube in “what they suspect to be an organized effort to drive viewers away from the theatrical showing of the film.”
Late Sunday night, someone uploaded the entire film to YouTube. In a statement released Monday, the producers said that the suspect opponents of the film put it on the Internet to diffuse box office sales.
“It has now been taken down and we have informed the FBI which is launching a vigorous investigation,” said producer Doug Sain. “We urge all Americans to respect the copyright of this film and not place themselves in legal jeopardy by engaging in illegal activity in the form of viewing or downloading the movie online.”
“Obama’s America” hit another roadblock last week when false reports circulated that Fox News Channel was planning to air the documentary for free.
“The reports of the movie appearing on Fox before the election are completely untrue and we strongly suspect that they are the result of dirty tricks by our opponents who spread this rumor in order to confuse the general public and keep them from going to their local theaters,” D’Souza said.”We urge all Americans to ignore these efforts and go to their local theater and enjoy the movie on the big screen.”
The film, which traces President Obama’s past in an attempt understand his worldview, has exceeded all box office expectations by becoming the second-highest grossing political documentary of all time.
So far, it has earned over $30 million since opening in July, according to Deadline, meaning Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” is the only political documentary to surpass “2016” in ticket sales.