U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday called a controversial YouTube video that sparked anti-American violence in the Muslim world “crude and disgusting” but defended the right to free speech that allowed the video to be disseminated on the Internet.
“I have made it clear that the U.S. government has nothing to do with this video,” Obama told UN delegates.
But the age of the Internet—when “anyone with a cell phone” can spread offensive information, “the question is how we respond,” Obama said.
“There is no speech that justifies mindless violence,” he said.
