Lantern Festival shuts down scam claims as Willy Wonka experience jokes roll in

Lantern Festival UK has shut down scam claims, adding that their sold-out London and Birmingham locations will be revealed on 20 April.

It comes after TikTok was flooded with concerns and memes, with many asking questions about air control and safety. Meanwhile, many more suggested it to be part two of the notorious Willy Wonka experience.

However, Lantern Festival UK have said that the two events "could not be more different".

It comes after TikToker Tyriek said about the event: "You must think life is Disney. You must think this is Thailand. We don't do lantern festivals in the UK, sis. We don't do that."

He highlighted that Birmingham council have banned lanterns, before claiming that there is no private land to hire to "let lanterns off". The content creator then turned his attention to air traffic and flight risks.

Another TikToker joked that they "couldn't wait" to see the meme fallout from the events in question.

Some X/Twitter users were convinced the event had something to do with Joe Lycett, who has recently been planting fake news stories across mainstream media.

"I’m so invested in this UK lantern thing because you actually have to be stupid to fall for it," another penned.

However, in a statement to Indy100, the company said they "share the public and media’s heightened awareness of events promotion, following the disastrous Wonka experience in Glasgow that was widely reported recently."

"Our events and theirs could not be more different," they added.

They went on to suggest they have "carefully planned" the events, and made "numerous location selections in Birmingham and London, optioning sites of different capacities, based on their attributes that will enable us to create a safe and environmentally friendly event for all."

They continued: "As ticket sales have overperformed our expectations, we’ve released the site options on lower-capacity venues and entered into final agreements with the larger venues we’ve identified as part of our planning process.

"Our selection of lanterns is based on ensuring aesthetics that align with our advertisements and an effort to limit the environmental impact as well."

Lantern Festival UK also addressed claims of Birmingham banning lanterns, saying: "We want to clarify that the lantern festival will be hosted on private land and therefore does not require planning permission from the local council. We have instructed our solicitor to again review our lease agreement in Birmingham and local council rules to ensure this compliance."

Some speculation of the event being fake was birthed from the advertisements using stock videos.

In response, the company wrote: "While we have used some stock footage in our promotional videos to showcase the ambient experiences our festivals aim to create, all events being held by Lantern Festival UK will be professionally produced and will meet all safety standards.

"The stock footage was selected based on the likeness of the lanterns and the ones our events will use, to ensure as close of look and feel that will be experienced at our events. We’re certain attendees will agree that our ads are accurate, once the event has occurred."

The festival is set to take place in Birmingham on 1 June and 13 July and in London on 26 May and 8 June.

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