Filmmaker Eli Steele’s 38-minute documentary Killing America, which explores anti-semitism in the San Francisco area following the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, has been banned from YouTube, Substack, and Vimeo for a questionable case of “copyright infringement.”
Eli Steele says he created the documentary highlight how policies of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) within the San Francisco education system led to a spike in anti-Jewish attitudes following the October 7. After completing the film, he released the trailer on YouTube only to have the platform pull it for “copyright infringement.” Per Fox News:
When the film’s trailer featured footage from a Sequoia Union High School District board meeting, Steele was hit with a cease-and-desist letter from a student newspaper of one of the schools in the film, Menlo-Atherton High School’s M-A Chronicle.
YouTube and Vimeo took down the “Killing America” trailer as a result of the cease and desist, which Steele said would have greatly diminished his opportunity to promote “Killing America” ahead of its original scheduled release in October.
Steele simply decided to release the film online for free as a result of the ban.
After enduring a week of unwarranted takedowns of the Killing America trailer on @Youtube and @Vimeo as well as receiving a baseless cease and desist letter that seeks to prevent my documentary from being shown in its original form, I’ve decided to release the full (38 min)… pic.twitter.com/KL6RxeJ3KE
— Eli Steele (@Hebro_Steele) April 5, 2024
“If we stand back and do nothing, then we are part of killing America,” Steele told Fox News. “We really have to stand up and question. Why do we let these people educate our children who are ideologues?”
Steele referred to the film as “a labor of love for me, a continuation of my family’s legacy of civil rights activism that dates back to 1942.” He called the ban “nothing short of weaponized censorship.”
Please check out the dynamic Q&A session for the "Killing America" sneak preview that took place in Menlo Park on March 2.
— Eli Steele (@Hebro_Steele) March 7, 2024
It was a very frank, no-holds barred conversation that ruffled many feathers among the Left in the Bay Area. https://t.co/cJ2KEcIqie
The cease and desist from the Editorial Board of the M-A Chronicle accused Steele of using images and footage that belonged to the school.
“We are the creators and sole authorized distributors of all works referenced above. You neither requested nor received permission to use our works, therefore your unauthorized copying and use of our copyrighted work constitutes copyright infringement in violation of the United States copyright laws,” the Editorial Board of the M-A Chronicle wrote.
Steele asserted that Killing America does not violate fair use, adding that the school board meetings were necessary to tell the story.
“Every lawyer that we’ve talked to is just like, ‘This is insane,’” Steele said.
Steele then revealed on Tuesday that Substack removed posts that contained links referencing the Killing America film.
Without any notice or warning, @SubstackInc removed my post containing links to the #KillingAmerica movie. Even @YouTube and @Vimeo had the sense to send me a notice. Not one word from Substack.
— Eli Steele (@Hebro_Steele) April 9, 2024
Instead, a chat bot directed me to a form that asked why I felt that the post was… https://t.co/SKq1l4B52r pic.twitter.com/I6o01mMvik
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
