The embattled makers of the wildly viral KONY 2012 video are having trouble coming up with the sequel.
KONY 2012 Part II, the much-anticipated follow-up to the 30-minute video by Invisible Children that sought to mobilize the world against African warlord Joseph Kony, was supposed to drop today. But the nonprofit, which endured harsh criticism over its accounting and a psychiatric meltdown of one co-founder after its first offering early last month registered 100 million views, has delayed the new video.
KONY 2012 Part II is now expected to be released Thursday after producers experienced editing issues while putting the final touches on the new documentary, a spokeswoman for the group confirmed to FoxNews.com.
The new video will go more in-depth about the Ugandan conflict, responding to detractors of the first film who said that Invisible Children had distorted and over-simplified the issues surrounding Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army.
Invisible Children's director of ideology, Jedidiah Jenkins, told Reuters at an event for the organization in Los Angeles on Sunday that the sequel is geared toward an international audience and will include more voices from the countries where Kony and the LRA are currently based, such as the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Anticipation for the sequel is high, despite the ongoing turmoil. Jason Russell, director of the first film, suffered a very public mental breakdown and has since been hospitalized.
Critics have said the organization and its video mislead viewers about current events in Uganda and promote “slacktivismâ€-- in which people passively post links in support of a cause without taking any meaningful action.
As recently as Tuesday, another non-profit group, The Mara Foundation, released a counter video titled “Uganda 2012 -- More than Kony 2012â€, a three-minute film that shows why the central African nation has become a popular tourist destination as of late.
“The [Mara] Foundation credits the ‘Kony 2012' video with surpassing all expectations in raising awareness of the activities of warmonger Joseph Kony, but says it simultaneously created an impression in the minds of many that Uganda today is unsafe and unstable, whereas the reality is very different,†the foundation said in a statement. “While the Foundation hopes that the video does not downplay the goal of capturing Kony, it hopes to present a more balanced representation of Uganda that many Ugandans feel they rightly deserve.â€
Invisible Children has called for a day of action for later this month, on April 20, where it urges supporters to venture out in the community to hang up posters and other materials calling for the capture of Kony and intends to provide more details on the date in the new video.
Article from FOXNEWS
