Spiked Online Editor Tom Slater has expressed his outrage after a London cinema cancelled the premiere of his documentary on free speech.
Speaking to GB News, Mr Slater hit out at the Rich Mix theatre and declared he is “determined not to be silenced” by their ban.
The premiere of Think Before You Post was set to take place at Rich Mix on November 25, but Spiked was informed that the cinema had decided against hosting the event.
Mr Slater was told by the venue that the cinema took the decision after it “came to light that the content and speakers featured do not align with our values and mission”.
Spiked Online Editor Tom Slater has expressed his frustration after The Rich Mix theatre banned the premiere of Spiked Online’s documentary on free speech
|
X / GB NEWS
Sharing more details about the ban, Mr Slater told GB News: “You really couldn’t make it up. The documentary is called Think Before You Post, and we released it a couple of weeks ago. It’s all about the rise of the British speech police, people being arrested, prosecuted, held on remand for social media posts telling the story of people who’ve gone through that ordeal.
“We had booked the Rich Mix for the premiere and for a Q&A (Question and answer session) afterwards, tickets were selling well, and we were looking forward to a great night.”
He continued: “And then on Tuesday evening, out of the blue, we get an email from the venue saying that they are cancelling our booking because it does not align with the venue’s values. Clearly free speech isn’t one of those values, but there we are. And they claim that the content of the film and the panel were not known to them beforehand, I’d let people make their own minds up.
“But the film was already out when we actually booked that venue, and the speakers who were booked for the Q&A afterwards were actually in the film itself. So yes, our documentary about censorship has been censored. The irony is not lost on us, but it’s certainly lost on Rich Mix who have decided to make this decision.”
Rich Mix in London cancelled the event, telling Spiked the ‘content and speakers featured do not align with our values and mission’
|
Revealing more about the film’s focus, Mr Slater explained: “The film is really based around three key case studies. There’s a couple in Borehamwood who were arrested by five police officers at their home for getting into an online row with their daughter’s primary school. There’s the case of Allison Pearson, Telegraph columnist who was visited by police on Remembrance Sunday last year over a year old tweets.
“And there’s the case of Jamie Michael, a former Royal Marine from Wales who was arrested, held on remand for 17 days and then acquitted by a jury in 17 minutes over a video that he made on Facebook about the Southport stabbings. And it’s really about trying to put a human face to a lot of the headlines that we’ve all been reading over recent years on this issue.”
Highlighting the ongoing free speech crisis in Britain, the Spiked editor told GB News: “It’s the horrible situation, isn’t it? People feel the need to think before they post, not least because that’s the message which has been explicitly coming out from Government.
“I think one of the key parts of the stories that we see in the documentary is, first of all, get good representation. If it’s possible, reach out to the Free Speech Union, they are involved in all three of the cases that we discuss. Stick to your guns, don’t plead guilty just because a duty solicitor has informed you to try and get as much good information as possible.”
Mr Slater told GB News he is ‘determined not to be silenced’
|
GB NEWS
He added: “And for everyone else in society, most of us are very unlikely to get that knock at the door, but the chilling effect can certainly be felt by the rest of us. I think we do need to be braver, both in terms of speaking our minds and standing up to this state overreach when it does come to our door.”
Asked by host Andrew Pierce if a new venue has been lined up for the film’s premiere, Mr Slater admitted: “We are working flat out to find one. We’re hoping to be able to announce one in the next 24 hours, so please do watch this space, because we’re determined not to be silenced and to hold it on the same night that everyone else had planned on.
“Certainly it was a turn up for the books for me, I thought that maybe if you were committed, as they claim to, to be a diversity of opinion, then maybe that would include a documentary all about free speech and diversity, but apparently not.
“I was shocked, but not surprised. I suppose we all know that the cultural sector is awash with people who wouldn’t know what free speech is if it bit them on the backside. Incidentally, the guy who sent us the email had his pronouns in his email signature, which I dare say speaks volumes.”
GB News has contacted Rich Mix for comment on Spiked’s statement and the decision.
