Anti-Islam film protests continue; actress sues YouTube, producer

An "Innocence of Muslims" actress who sued the film's producer and YouTube said she has received death threats and her life "has been turned upside down."

But a Los Angeles County judge on Thursday refused to grant an emergency request by actress Cindy Lee Garcia to have footage of the film pulled from YouTube.

Superior Court Judge Luis Lanvin said Garcia had not demonstrated "a likelihood to prevail on the merits" of her request. Attorneys for Google, which owns YouTube, had opposed pulling the video clip, but Garcia's attorney said she would continue efforts to have it removed.

Garcia sued the film's producer and YouTube, claiming that clips from the controversial anti-Islam movie have led to death threats against her.

"Emotionally, I am very disturbed," Garcia said outside court on Thursday. "My whole life has been turned upside down in every aspect," she added.

She said she can't visit her grandchildren for fear that they might be harmed.

Garcia claims she was duped by the filmmaker and was shocked when she saw the final product.

M. Cris Armenta, the lawyer representing Garcia in the matter, had said the case "is not a 1st Amendment issue. This is an invasion-of-privacy issue."

Garcia said in her legal action that she was tricked into working in the film. Filmmaker Sam Bacile (the name appears to be a pseudonym for Nakoula Basseley Nakoula) allegedly told Garcia that he was making a movie called "Desert Warrior" that was "an adventure film ... about ancient Egyptians" and that there would be neither "references made to religion" or sexual content.

Meanwhile, the film is continuing to spark protests and rioting across the Muslim world.

Tens of thousands of protesters in Pakistan torched a movie theater and hurled rocks into buildings. Three people were killed and dozens more were injured, the Associated Press reported.

— Harriet Ryan and KTLA News