The Weinstein Company, which owns the distribution rights for 2014's Fed Up, requested that two interviews at the center of accusations that the Katie Couric-produced and narrated documentary used deceptive editing be removed from Youtube.
Youtube documentation lists the takedown request as "manually detected" and made by the Weinstein Company. The Washington Free Beacon has initiated a counter-notification requesting that the videos be reinstated on fair use grounds since the videos are the subject of a news report. The Free Beacon has moved the videos to another video platform and reinserted them into the original story while the dispute is settled by Youtube.
The videos feature two interviews from Fed Up where the producers of the film are accused of unethical editing techniques. In one of the videos Dr. David Allison is shown stumbling during an answer and then pausing for several seconds before the film cuts to another interview, an answer to the question he was asked is never shown. Dr. Allison said he did provide an answer to the question and that Couric assured him he could pause to rework answers if he needed.
"What she did to me is antithetical to not only just human decency and civility but it is antithetical to the spirit of science and democratic dialogue," he told the Free Beacon.
The other video features an interview with former Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation spokesperson Lisa Gable. Industry sources say the audio of the interview was manipulated to embarrass Gable.
An audio clip of the off camera interviewer saying she didn't believe Gable was answering her questions did not occur at the moment it is portrayed in the film, according to the sources. "That response from the producer didn’t actually follow that particular exchange and was edited to make it look like that was how their conversation actually went," one source said.
The Weinstein Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.