Anti-Muslim Filmmaker: I Wanted to Burn Myself in Public

The New York Times has scored the first prison interview with Nakoula Basseley Nakoula (aka Sam Bacile, aka Ebrahem Fawzy Youssef, aka Kritbag Difrat), the man who wrote and produced The Innocence of Muslims. Sort of. Actually, the warden wouldn't allow an in-person interview, but via written correspondence Nakoula tells the paper that he has absolutely no regrets about the film that caused violent protests around the world (if not, it turns out, at the Benghazi consulate). He says he was merely telling "the actual truth" about the Prophet Mohammed.

"I thought, before I wrote this script, that I should burn myself in the public square to let the American people and the people of the world know this message that I believe in," Nakoula says, adding that he had been spurred especially by the Fort Hood shooting, which left him "upset and enraged." He also says he doesn't feel bad about tricking actors into shooting the film. "They had signed contracts," he reasons, which "in no way prevented changes to the script." For the full piece, including the most detailed telling yet of the film's weird origin story, click here. (More Innocence of Muslims stories.)