The documentary, released in 2022, alleged that the 2020 election results were affected by thousands of people who were paid to collect ballots in swing states, including Georgia, where Mark Andrews was filmed dropping off five ballots in a box. While Andrews was dropping off the ballots of his household, which included his three adult children and his wife, his face was blurred in the film as he was implied to be a part of the scheme.

D’Souza issued a statement on his website dedicated to the documentary. As the filmmaker, D’Souza said the cellphone geolocation information depicted in the film, along with the surveillance video, was provided to him by the organization True the Vote. He explained that he recently learned the two pieces of data and the video “may not have actually been correlated.”

“I owe this individual, Mark Andrews, an apology. I now understand that the surveillance videos used in the film were characterized on the basis of inaccurate information provided to me and my team. If I had known then that the videos were not linked to geolocation data, I would have clarified this and produced and edited the film differently,” D’Souza said. “I make this apology not under the terms of a settlement agreement or other duress, but because it is the right thing to do, given what we have now learned. While I do not believe Mr. Andrews was ever identified by the film or book, I am sorry for any harm he believes he and his family has suffered as a result of 2000 Mules.”

Andrews filed a federal lawsuit against D’Souza over the matter two years ago. As a result, even the documentary’s publisher, Salem Media Group, issued an apology to Andrews shortly after. However, True the Vote made clear this was a mistake made by the film producers in an effort to glamorize the premise.

“The central premise of 2000 Mules, as identified and validated by True the Vote’s research, remains accurate. However, regarding the individual mentioned in Mr. D’Souza’s statement, TTV had no editorial control over the ‘2000 Mules’ movie and no involvement in the books,” True the Vote’s statement read. “We did not select videos or graphics used for dramatic effect. This individual was not part of the geospatial study in which TTV identified 242 unique devices having visited at least 10 ballot drop boxes—a fact that was communicated to Mr. D’Souza’s team.”

Despite the apology, D’Souza maintained “that the 2020 election was not the ‘most secure election in US history’ — far from it! — and that there was systematic election fraud sufficient to call the outcome into question.”

2000 Mules grossed more than $1 million in its first 12 hours of streaming before entering select theaters.