Kirk Cameron is celebrating after Facebook lifted a ban on the trailer for his upcoming documentary film, Unstoppable.
The former Growing Pains star and staunch Christian traditionalist — who has stirred up controversy for calling gay marriage “unnatural and detrimental” and defending former Missouri Rep. Todd Akin‘s “legitimate rape” remark — says the social network has reversed its decision after he posted a message on his Facebook page enlisting “friends of Faith, Family and Freedom” to rally behind his campaign to unblock the Unstoppable video.
“Victory!! Friends, you did it!” he wrote Thursday in a follow-up post. “People tried to stop ‘Unstoppable’ on Facebook, and because millions of us joined together as one voice, Facebook has apologized and welcomed us back! You all just demonstrated to the press (they are all calling me to talk about your amazing response!) that the communities of faith, hope, and love are, well … unstoppable.”
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Cameron also complained of a boycott by YouTube, which has removed a teaser for the documentary (slated to premiere Sept. 24 at Virginia’s Liberty University and be broadcast simultaneously in select theaters). The preview features the 42-year-old actor-evangelist on a personal religious quest through America and urging viewers, “I want you to come on this journey with me to answer this age-old question: If God is good, why is there so much suffering? Why all the pain? Why does He allow evil to in a world when he could stop it?”
YouTube said the clip is a violation of its policies “against spam, scams and commercially deceptive content.” Cameron wrote in his Facebook plea Wednesday that the company had labeled the trailer as “abusive,” “unsafe” and “spammy.”
“To protect the hundreds of millions of people who connect and share on Facebook every day, we have automated systems that work in the background to maintain a trusted environment and protect our users from bad actors who often use links to spread spam and malware,” a Facebook spokesperson explained in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “These systems are so effective that most people who use Facebook will never encounter spam. They’re not perfect, though, and in rare instances they make mistakes. This link was blocked for a very short period of time after being misidentified as a potential spam or malware site. We learn from rare cases such as these to make our systems even better.”
The former Growing Pains star has a long history of conservative activism and has carved a niche as a leading man in Christian film fare, most recently starring in Monumental, a 2012 doc in which he sets out to explore his belief that the Founding Fathers intended to build a religious nation, and 2008’s Fireproof, a critically savaged but commercially successful film wherein he portrayed an unfaithful fireman who becomes born again as he struggles to rescue his marriage.
Email: Erin.Carlson@THR.com
Twitter: @ErinLCarlson
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