Credit: Far Out / Glastonbury Festival

Glastonbury Festival: Screening of ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’ pulled

Mon 19 June 2023 20:13, UK

Ahead of the big kick off later this week, Glastonbury Festival has pulled the screening of a controversial documentary, Oh, Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie, a controversial title facing criticism for defending former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn over alleged anti-Semitism. This comes after Jewish leaders warned that the Somerset festival was being “hijacked” by “conspiracy theorists”.

Glastonbury commences at its long-time home of Worthy Farm on June 21st and runs until 25th. Whilst its musical headliners are to be Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John, it also has a host of other attractions on offer, including movies. One of the events was to be the screening of Oh, Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie at the Pilton Palais cinema on Sunday, the final day of the festival.

The movie is accused of peddling conspiracy theories, including that Corbynism’s failure was the result of an “orchestrated campaign” against him, made up of right-wing media, Jewish and pro-Israel groups, as well as Labour staff and other MPs who opposed the Islington North MP because of his pro-Palestine stance.

In response to Glastonbury listing the film’s screening, Marie van der Zyl, the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, penned a letter to the co-organisers of Glastonbury, father and daughter, Michael and Emily Eavis. Van der Zyl expressed “deep concern”.

The Telegraph reports that it has seen the letter, with it reading: “Your festival is one of the most successful festivals in the UK. It seems profoundly sinister for it to be providing a platform to a film which clearly seeks to indoctrinate people into believing a conspiracy theory effectively aimed at Jewish organisations.”

“We would request that you not allow your festival to be hijacked by those seeking to promote hatred with no basis in fact, in the same way as we would hope that your festival would not screen films seeking to promote other conspiracy theories, such as anti-vaccination, 9/11 truthers or chemtrails.”

Now that they have pulled the screening, Glastonbury Festival says: “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.”

Watch the trailer for Oh, Jeremy Corbyn below.