El Museo del Barrio Apologizes for Renting Space to Event that Aired 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

New York’s El Museo del Barrio said this week that it regretted renting space to a group that organized an event at which 9/11 conspiracy theories were freely aired.

Titled “Turning the Tide: 9/11 25 Years Later” and staged between September 10 and 13, the four-day event was held at the museum earlier this month to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. It was organized by the International Center for 9/11 Justice, whose stated goal is to create “a society that is no longer shaped by the false official account of 9/11.”

According to the New York Times, the event pushed false narratives about 9/11, including ones that were centered around the notion that the Twin Towers did not fall because of a terrorist attack. The Times reported that the event included “a reference to planted explosives and the view that controlled demolitions, not the planes and resulting fires, were more directly involved in the building collapses.”

The speakers included firefighters and survivors of 9/11 victims. Per the Times, one unidentified speaker referred to the US government’s report on 9/11 as a “total whitewash.”

In a statement to the Times, El Museo said, “We sincerely regret this lapse in our vetting process and accept responsibility for the pain this has caused to all of us who continue to endure the tragedy of 9/11. We are currently undertaking a thorough review of our rental policies.”

Some prominent organizations denounced the event. The Times reported that the Anti-Defamation League, a watchdog group focused on antisemitism, raised concerns about the conference, in particular because one speaker reportedly played a video in which the American and Israeli flags appeared after the speaker called the 9/11 attack a “false flag.”

“The so-called 9/11 ‘truther’ movement, once a niche subculture presented with a pseudoscientific veneer, has shifted over time into simplified and sweeping claims about supposed Jewish and Zionist power,” the ADL told the Times.

Moreover, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, which is slated to provide more than $1 million in funding to El Museo del Barrio this year, called the event “reprehensible.”

Ted Walter, executive director of the International Center for 9/11 Justice, denied that his organization’s event was antisemitic or “reprehensible,” and accused the Department of Cultural Affairs of an attempt to “demean the perspective of so many grieving and hurt New Yorkers who believe that the full truth of 9/11 has yet to be told.”