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February 1, 2002
Theatres don't like Icke
Two more venues refuse to host conspiracy theorist.
PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
The British conspiracy theorist David Icke continues to look for
a venue in which to present his unusual ideas in Vancouver. Following
last month's refusal by the Ridge Theatre to provide him space for
two day-long seminars, he has since been rejected by two more theatres.
The Vogue Theatre, where Icke spoke two years ago, chose not to
allow Icke to stage his seminar there, even after organizers were
so certain of the change in venue that they printed new handbills
noting the changed location.
Jon-Paul Walden, general manager of the Vogue, would not comment
on the presentation two years ago, because he was not manager at
the time. However, he said, the theatre made the recent decision
after the owners investigated Icke's ideas and Walden himself discussed
the matter with people whose views he respects.
Walden said he had not heard any complaints from members of the
public about Icke's presentation, and the decision to bar Icke from
the theatre was an ethical choice of the owners.
Icke's supporters then went to the Hollywood Theatre, where owner
David Fairleigh similarly turned down the request. Fairleigh took
it upon himself to learn about Icke and was disturbed by what he
found out.
"It's good for a laugh," said Fairleigh. "But when
you go a little deeper, he throws in some curve balls."
The decision to turn Icke down was a costly one. The Hollywood would
have received $1,000 and 10 per cent of total book sales for the
seven-hour presentation. The money could have come in handy, Fairleigh
said, because he is undertaking some renovations to the classic
Broadway film house. However, his conscience prevailed, he said.
"When I said I wasn't going to do it, they offered to up the
price," he said.
Fairleigh said the organizers told him that hotels will not book
rooms for their performance, either, because they have a major aversion
to controversy.
The Bulletin reported Jan. 18 on Icke's troubles confirming
a space in the city and outlined some of his conspiracy ideas. Icke
maintains that the world is controlled by shape-shifting reptiles
from another planet who have formed themselves into most of the
world's prominent leaders. Implausible though they may seem, these
theories have sold books and filled lecture halls for the entrepreneurial
Icke. Though he criticizes Christianity (especially Roman Catholicism)
and Islam, many of Icke's central theories are redigestions of long-standing
anti-Semitic lies, including the "Protocols of the Learned
Elders of Zion" and a thinly veiled retelling of the Medieval
"blood libel": the idea that Jews kill gentile babies
and use their blood in the creation of matzah.
Kolin Lymworth, owner of Banyen Books, where tickets for the event
are for sale, disagreed with accusations that Icke's material is
discriminatory.
"I've read some of it and I've looked very carefully at the
assertions or assumptions that his views are anti-Semitic and I
don't find it to be true," he said. "I find that it's
popular to accuse him of that but, unfortunately, that's all it
seems to be."
Banyen is not sponsoring the event, but does carry books by the
author.
"While his ideas are, in my opinion, rather extended and far
out, I don't find them either pernicious or discriminatory in that
sense," said Lymworth.
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