Health secretary Sajid Javid has said he is “very concerned about cancel culture in the UK” after screenings of a “blasphemous” film about the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad were pulled from cinemas.
On Tuesday, Cineworld pulled all screenings of The Lady of Heaven “to ensure the safety of our staff and customers”. Showcase cinemas also reportedly pulled the film from its cinemas (the chain did not respond to a request for comment).
It came after hundreds of demonstrators picketed theatres in Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford and Sheffield showing the film over the weekend. 5Pillars, a Muslim news site, tweeted a photograph of what it said was “200 Muslims protesting against sectarian hate film The Lady of Heaven” outside a Cineworld in Birmingham.
Speaking to TalkTV on Wednesday, Javid said: “I am very concerned about the growing cancel culture in this country. There’s people out there who think they have a right not to be offended and of course, no one has that right.
“You might not like what someone’s got to say, but they have a right to say it.”
Javid said there were no blasphemy laws in the UK and warned that would be “an incredibly dangerous road to go down”. He added: “What we have in this country is freedom of speech and expression, and that is a fundamental value.”
More than 120,000 people have signed a petition for The Lady of Heaven to be pulled from UK cinemas. The Bolton Council of Mosques called the film “blasphemous” and sectarian, while the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the UK’s largest Muslim umbrella organisation, described it as “divisive”.
In a statement, the MCB said it “supports those scholars and leaders who are advocating for greater unity and for the common good”.
It added: “There are some – including many of this film’s supporters or those engaging in sectarianism in their response – whose primary goal is to fuel hatred.”
MCB statement on release of divisive film: ‘The Lady of Heaven.’https://t.co/5jejPy4Wgx pic.twitter.com/rVumX4wvnV
— MCB (@MuslimCouncil) June 6, 2022
The Lady of Heaven, directed by Eli King and written by Sheikh al-Habib, claims to tell the story of Lady Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad.
It has been criticised by some groups both for its depiction of the prophet as well as the portrayal of revered figures in early Sunni Islam. Other critics claim negative characters were portrayed by black actors.
The film, which has been banned in Egypt, Iran and Pakistan, has received middling reviews, with the Guardian giving it two stars. The 5Pillars review of the film was headlined: “Lady of Heaven: pure, unadulterated sectarian filth.”
Its executive producer, Malik Shlibak, on Wednesday said he had received “death threats” as a result of the film.
“I don’t worry about it – it’s just empty threats. But I have had threats on Twitter now, being called an ‘infidel’ and with people saying, ‘I’m going to kill you’ and all this sort of thing,” he said.
“For the film, this has been brilliant. I’ve been absolutely bombarded by every media outlet you can imagine. So, the film is reaching a huge, huge audience – more than it ever could.”
Shlibak previously told the Guardian cinemas should “stand up and defend their right to show films that people want to see”.
Screenings of the film went ahead on Wednesday at a number of Vue cinemas in London and south-east England. The company said it “takes seriously the responsibilities that come with providing a platform for a wide variety of content and believes in showcasing films of interest to diverse communities across the UK”.
