Glastonbury Festival have decided to cancel the screening of the film ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn… The Big Lie’ following a huge backlash on social media.
The controversial documentary tells the story of the unexpected rise of an MP who had warmed the back benches for 32 years to suddenly become the leader of the Labor Party for five years. Corbyn rode a wave of popularity, before it all came crashing down around him.
‘Jezza’ proved a big at the famous music festival back in 2017, when he was given a rock star reception. He told a huge crowd that millions of young people who voted for him would not be silenced or sidelined.
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There were hundreds of pro-Corbyn banners and T-shirts among the crowd the day he visited Worthy Farm. However, six years on – and how things have changed… as the film produced by award-winning radical film-maker Platform Films and narrated by comedian Alexei Sayle, has been given the chop.
In a statement, organizers said: “Although we believe that the Pilton Palais booked this film in good faith, in the hope of provoking political debate, it’s become clear that it is not appropriate for us to screen it at the festival.
“Glastonbury is about unity and not division, and we stand against all forms of discrimination.”
The movie is said to explore “a dark and murky story of political deception and outrageous antisemitic smears” and a trailer shows one interviewee questioning whether Corbyn was brought down by an “orchestrated campaign”.
The film, which was scheduled to be screened on Sunday on one of the minor stages, also features Ken Loach and former MP Chris Williamson, and is described in a press release as thus: “In 2017, with the support of an extraordinary grassroots movement , British Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn came close to becoming prime minister.
“The establishment trembled. Britain stood on the threshold of huge political change. But within three years all, it seemed, was lost. What happened and why?”
Several Jewish groups have criticized the movie, with the Community Security Trust saying: “Jeremy Corbyn’s diehard supporters are determined to peddle the false myth that the only reason he is not the Prime Minister is that a conspiracy orchestrated by the Israeli Embassy supposedly invented a load of stories about antisemitism in the Labor Party.
“It is this claim that is a big lie, and it denies and insults the very real harassment and abuse suffered by many Jewish Labor Party members during that period, while itself reinforcing antisemitic stereotypes.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews had written to the Glastonbury organizers, with president Marie van der Byl demanding they not show the film: “It is profoundly sinister for your festival to be providing a platform to a film which clearly seeks to indoctrinate people into believing a conspiracy theory effectively aimed at Jewish organizations.
“We would request that you do not allow your festival to be hijacked by those seeking hate with no basis of fact.”
Not everyone, though, was in favor of organizers scrapping the planned screening, with one person commenting on Twitter: “The cowards at the Glastonbury Film Festival unsurprisingly capitulated to establishment pressure, led by Labor despots, and canceled the new documentary showing how anti- Accusations of Semitism were cynically exploited to destroy Jeremy Corbyn. A powerful film based on facts, not conspiracy theories. They don’t want you to judge for yourselves.”
