A £12m film that has been described as being ‘offensive to Islam’ has been pulled from Cineworld screens following heartfelt protests here in Yorkshire.
The Lady of Heaven, a film about Lady Fatima, the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter, drew huge crowds to Sheffield’s Cineworld over the weekend as locals protested over planned screenings.
The film, which depicts the ‘face’ of the Prophet on screen, has been called “highly offensive and blasphemous” by some Muslim activists.
Depicting the image of the prophets is a contentious issue in Islam, with many particularly averse to visual representations of Muhammad.
A video shared on Twitter captured a speech delivered to the crowd of protesters, which appears to have been delivered by one of the cinema’s staff.
In it, the man prompts huge cheers as he says: “I am confirming that we have cancelled this film and will not be showing it again.
“We value you as customers. We value all of our customers. We are in the heart of this community.
“At a local level it wasn’t our decision to show this film; it came from above. We totally agree with what you are saying, and we are not prepared at this cinema to show this film.”
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The protests occurred on Sunday night both in Yorkshire and up and down the country, and have since led to Cineworld cancelling all screenings of the film nationwide.
A spokesperson from Cineworld said: “Due to recent incidents related to screenings of ‘The Lady of Heaven’, we have made the decision to cancel upcoming screenings of the film nationwide to ensure the safety of our staff and customers.”
Feature image – Google
