Former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron‘s upcoming movie Unstoppable vows to answer the question “Where is God in the midst of tragedy and suffering?” But considering that theaters will only have one night, September 24, to show the movie backed by Liberty University, you can appreciate why he’s also so concerned about another question: Where can people see the trailer? That was a problem last week after YouTube took down the video saying that it violated policies against “spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content” and Facebook cited similar reasons to block links to his promo site, UnstoppableTheMovie.com. “This is my most personal film about faith, hope, and love, and about why God allows bad things to happen to good people. What is ‘abusive’ or ‘unsafe’ about that?!,” Cameron wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday. But both Internet powers relented on Friday. Cameron wrote on Facebook that his “phone is ringing off the hook to talk with me about how powerful the faith community is to accomplish good things when we put our hearts and minds together. They are listening!!” NCM Fathom is presenting the theatrical showing, which it says will also include a live performance by musician Warren Barfield, a Q&A session with Cameron, and then “a special surprise guest in the faith based community for a quick talk.”
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Not a fan of Cameron at all but it’s pretty dumb his trailer was taken off YouTube.
I don’t understand why they took it down in the first place, unless it was just completely politically-motivated. I am not a fan of Cameron, his faith or his politics, but he absolutely has the right to express those ideas. I highly doubt there was anything offensive in that trailer to warrant it being taken down. Shame on YouTube in the first place, and shame on them for giving attention to something that would have come and gone unnoticed by most of America. I bet this poorly-made documentary sells out its theaters now.
Of course the trailer should never have been taken down. Even if it were “highly politically motivated” who cares? There’s trillion uploads on both Facebook and YouTube that fit that bill and, during the election, every presidential and vice presidential candidate had a “highly politically motivated” page on Facebook. Then again, this is the same Facebook that allows pages called Kill Zimmerman and Riot For Travyon and other incendiary, violence-inciting propaganda and claim when you report them that they’re not inciting violence. Really? WTF? Not to mention all the pages that are pro pedophilia and animal cruelty etc, pages and photos that would make anyone sick. This Kirk Cameron thing (not even a fan of his or religious myself as I’m agnostic) is just another in a long line of examples of YouTube and Facebook and other social media harassing and punishing and attempting to silence Christianity/conservatism. They’re only tolerant when you fall in lockstep. What a disgrace.
Are you saying people are silence conservatism and Christianity as a group or as separate issues? I am a Christian but not a Conservative. Christians come from many walks of life. I agree, there are those who would like to silence both Christians and Conservatives; it’s just that I don’t see them as one and the same.
Maybe you should see it before you call it poorly made.
“a special surprise guest in the faith based community for a quick talk.”
The resurrection?
Thank you for this! First laugh of the day.
You win the Internets.
The guy is a religious nut, but he has the right to advertise just like anyone else.
Agreed. And now I’m not going to think about this dude anymore today.
Is 20th Century Fox going to sue? They released a movie called Unstoppable 3 years ago…
They don’t have a vendetta against him like WB has for Harvey Weinstein.
Might have to call this one “Kirk Cameron’s Unstoppable”
You can’t copyright a film title. So no.
You’ve missed the entire WB/Weinstein Company court fight over “The Butler” title which shows your comment is wrong, haven’t you?
No one saw that one either.
that was funny
A worldwide gross of $170 million suggests otherwise.
Thanks for this even handed report of the relevant facts. You guys are always fair to the faith community and I appreciate it. It is so rare in Hollywood and media in general.
I meant the removal by YouTube was highly politically-motivated, not the content of the trailer.
I believe that is only for major studios who bind themselves to that ‘no same name’ agreement to avoid marketplace confusion.
Totally agree.
A live broadcast event is not really a movie now is it?
so, which of the over 2,000 recognized deities is this about? Zeus? Neptune? Siva? Santa?
Recognized by whom? Dumb comment.
a predictable ignorant response.
Surely, you aren’t that stupid or naive.
Recognized by man and society since we could write and create a history, of course.
Next time, look up how many gods/deities exist and are worshiped worldwide before showing your stupidity.
remember, your god hates imbeciles.
In fact, my god hates imbeciles too.
But my god will kick you god’s ass…
And my god doesn’t demand tithing or that you follow a hypocritical fiction book written by men who had an agenda about controlling populaces and keeping them in line and docile.
So, I ask again, Which god?
Neptune? Thor? Sol? Mars? Mrs. Claus?
The guy is fucking insane but he has a right to his opinions and find this untasteful.
I’m a total agnostic but shame on facebook and google for constraining free speech.
Written with the usual presumption of the aggressively religious, daring to suggest he knows he knows the workings of the universe and must impart such to all of us in the dark. He’s a deluded idiot, but he deserves a voice, obnoxious though it might be.
I tracked down the trailer and watched it…the most “controversial” question was: “Why does God permit evil and not stop it?” At no time was Christianity referred to, nor the name of Jesus mentioned. I guess what really turned their stomachs was when he ended with the statement – “Life is stronger than death – good is stronger than evil, and faith is stronger than anything!” You sure don’t want “SPAM” like that to spread!!
Youtube doesn’t lift a finger to remove all the jihadi videos posted, but goes all out against what looks like an entirely inoffensive clip. I’m not religious but why the hostility, he’s not hurting anyone. The aggressively secular/anti-religious types are even more annoying than the true believers.
Quirk Cameron has the inside dope on God. Hmm. Well God called earlier and said the line was busy… Nobody gets good reception all the time, this included.
Eh, it only gave him more PR. He’s a nutjob but he certainly has the right to promote his movie.
The suspicious side of me thinks this was all a PR stunt – Cameron’s video gets “censored” and look at all the publicity and traffic for both him and YouTube/Facebook. Hmm.
It couldn’t possibly be that he manufactued this controversy himself by flagging as spam in order to get publicity for his infomercial? Naaah.
Such cynicism. Cameron is sincere.
I say quit your job, and have faith that a sky based supermen will help you. Faith is powerful. So is washing your hands.
I don’t know about anybody else, but that sort of thing is frowned on by my faith-group.
Whether or not one supports Kirk – and I sure don’t – but the first amendment has to do with preventing government restriction of free speech, not private industry. As a private company, they have every right to not to show this trailer if they don’t want.
Yeah, support the evil media conglomerates. They only have your good in mind, lol.
Kirk, you protest too much.
It’s fine.
Aphrodite thinks you are a hottie.
My point was that most people don’t understand the first amendment, yourself included.
I hate the term “faith community.” As if Christians–usually the ones who use their faith to justify their supression of any person who is different–have the right to piously monopolize the spiritual sector of our society. Yuck!
How is using a simple term like “community” monopolizing anything? It has a recognized plural form; a person can simply be using it to designate the communtiy he is in.
Yeah, yeah…..First Amendment and all that, but I am surely tired of these religious nutjobs. They are, IMHO, ruining a once great nation and since the ‘faith’ community is so fired up to have a culture war, I for one am willing to oblige. Yank the previews.
Playing right into their hands, amking them into martyrs. Not good strategy, Jack Sprat.
Yeah, this one’s pretty strange. Have no idea why YouTube or Facebook would have censored this trailer. Incredibly stupid on their part.
That said, I’m 100 % confident Kirk Cameron has no idea whether God exists or why there’s evil in the world. Boner might have had some of these answers – Alan Thicke definitely does – but no way Cameron does.
What’s his name should have the right to spew his religious drivel all day long without the threat of being shut down by Youtube or Facebook. Just like I should have the right to say that I believe what’s his name is a moronic, douchey imbecile, who given half a chance, would gladly step on the rights of folks he disagrees with, all while using God as justification. Funny how that works.
In cases like this where Youtube, Facebook, or some other company like them has made a decision like this and then reversed themselves they will immediately issue a statement apologizing for their actions. I’m not seeing anything about that happening, only Cameron’s accusations, which is really making me wonder if it actually happened, or if this was just a PR stunt by someone who only manages to get any news coverage when they’re caught in a controversy.
Hey Kirk,
You don’t see me running around trying to push my opinions about Growing Pains on everyone, do you?
Just saying.
Your buddy,
JC