Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday called the film that helped provoke protestors to riot "disgusting and reprehensible."
"Let me state very clearly — and I hope it is obvious — The United States government had nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message," Clinton said in a statement at a State Department.
Clinton said that the video's intended purpose seemed to be inciting violence.
"I know it's hard for some people to understand why the United States cannot or does not just prevent these kinds of reprehensible videos from ever seeing the light of day," Clinton said.
But she quickly added that the video was no excuse to incite violence, condemning the actions that led to the deaths of multiple Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.
"There is no justification for responding to this video with violence," Clinton said. "We condemn the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms and we greatly appreciate that many Muslims in the US and around the world have spoken out on this issue."