Conservative media company Salem Media Group has apologized to a Georgia man who was falsely portrayed as committing election fraud in “2,000 Mules,” a film the company co-produced and released in 2022.
The documentary, written and directed by right-wing commentator Dinesh D'Souza, alleged that Democrats conspired with nonprofit groups to rig the 2020 election in favor of President Biden by using “mules” to stuff votes into ballot boxes in battleground states.
More than one million people saw 2000 Mules just two weeks after its release in May 2022, and it grossed more than $10 million at the box office. Its baseless claims became an article of faith for countless Americans convinced the election was stolen. Five months later, Salem published a companion book.
The film shows surveillance camera footage of Georgia man Mark Andrews dropping his ballot into a drop box near Atlanta, and narrated by DeSouza, who calls the act a “crime” and adds, “This is voter fraud.”
While Andrews' face is blurred in the footage, the film's producers used an unblurred version of the same video to promote the film in various conservative news media outlets, including Fox News' Tucker Carlson's original show and a Salem-produced show hosted by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Andrews, along with Salem and two others associated with the right-wing election watchdog group True the Vote, sued DeSouza for defamation in October 2022. Georgia investigators subsequently found that Andrews had committed no crime and had lawfully deposited ballots for himself and several of his family members.
“It was never our intention that the publication of the '2,000 Mules' film and book would cause any harm to Mr. Andrews,” Salem said in a statement Friday. “We apologize for any hurt caused to Mr. Andrews and his family by the inclusion of his image in the film, book and promotional materials.”
Salem Radio, one of the largest radio broadcasters in the nation with 115 stations, radio and podcast content, multiple websites and a number of magazines with conservative Christian themes, announced on Friday that it had removed “2,000 Mules” from its platform and would no longer distribute the film and book.
As the 2022 midterm elections approach, the film has become a touchstone for various institutions and individuals who claim the presidency was stolen from Donald J. Trump, with Trump himself calling the film “the greatest and most influential documentary of our time.”
Inspired by “2,000 Mules,” several advocacy groups formed to barricade ballot boxes (sometimes manned by firearms) and warn voters against voting early.
But some of the film's most ardent promoters, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, who attended a screening at Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and Fox News, which aired several episodes about the film, later acknowledged that they had spread lies about the election. In February, lawyers for True the Vote said in a Georgia court that there was no evidence to support claims of election fraud in that state.
Despite these admissions, many Americans continue to believe the 2020 election was rigged, and a CNN poll conducted last August found that more than two-thirds of Republicans don't believe President Biden won fairly.
D'Souza did not immediately respond to a request for comment. True the Boat founder Catherine Engelbrecht did not answer calls or respond to emails seeking response.
“2,000 Mules” relies heavily on cell phone location data provided by True the Vote, which D'Souza claims shows ballot couriers approaching ballot drop boxes multiple times a day and participating in Black Lives Matter protests. The film claims to provide evidence of fraud in battleground states such as Georgia and Arizona that crucially influenced the outcome of the 2020 election. True the Vote officials claim to have turned over evidence of fraud to the FBI.
However, subsequent investigations found the claims in the documentary to be false, and the Arizona Attorney General asked the FBI and Internal Revenue Service to investigate True the Vote, saying the group had not presented any evidence to support its claims of fraud.
In September, a federal judge in Georgia denied a defense motion to dismiss Andrews' defamation lawsuit, which is currently pending.