Game of Thrones Actor slams Government over Web Summit
“It shouldn’t have happened,” he said. “The spin that the boys in Leinster House put on it was disgraceful as well.”
The Irish actor was speaking on the first day of the summit in Dublin’s RDS.
He did not hold back in his criticism over the Government’s dealings with the event’s organisers.
“It’s a disgrace that something this clever and wonderful has been lost by people who probably don’t know how to turn on a mobile phone,” said the actor.
“Then they tried to sell the loss of this as a success story? I don’t think so, they weren’t fooling anyone.”
"I can go to the car and be in Westeros in an hour and a half!" @liamcunningham1 #IEWebstaff pic.twitter.com/mOYMsKEhqT
— Denise O'Donoghue (@deniseodonoghue) November 3, 2015
The tech conference has attracted 42,000 people in its fifth year, but moves to Lisbon in 2016 for a three-year period, after failed negotiations with the Government.
Cunningham had been discussing the golden age of TV at the summit where he addressed the fact Game of Thrones was the “most illegally downloaded show on the planet”.
“It’s a no brainer — if people aren’t going to be paid to make the stuff, they’re not going to make it,” he stated.
*SPOILER* @liamcunningham1 says Jon Snow is DEADER THAN DEAD! đź’” #websummit #IEWebstaff #GameOfThrones
— Denise O'Donoghue (@deniseodonoghue) November 3, 2015
Other high-profile attendees included the former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar and Liverpool Football Club CEO Ian Ayre.
Olympic medalists and Irish boxers Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan were also in attendance as were rugby players, brothers Rob Kearney and Dave Kearney along with Jamie Heaslip.
Heaslip, while on the Web Summit’s centre stage talking about his tech investments, addressed the Irish rugby team’s failure at the Rugby World Cup. “It was a bit of a rollercoaster, a rollercoaster ride, obviously we were upset we got knocked out in the quarter-finals in the way that we did.”
Heaslip said he invested heavily in Irish start-ups, like sport science firm Kitman Lab. “When you put yourself out there and I have, I’ve put my money where my mouth is — I’ve invested in a lot of different start-ups and companies and people,” the rugby player disclosed.
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