The Truth About That 'Best Photo Of Glastonbury' Which Swept The Internet

The heartwarming 'Glasto' image isn't all it's cracked up to be....

Iconic: The image which swept the net at the weekend. (SWNS)
Iconic: The image which swept the net at the weekend. (SWNS)


Held above the crowd with his hands in the air and a beaming smile, this image of a wheelchair-bound festival fan swept the internet during Glastonbury.

The picture shows a disabled music fan 'crowd surfing' at a festival and was quickly branded 'the best photo of Glastonbury' when it emerged online.

But it turns out the image is actually two years old - and wasn't even taken in Britain.

The heartwarming snap was taken in 2013 at the Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco. 

The picture was 'liked' by tens of thousands around the world. (SWNS)
The picture was 'liked' by tens of thousands around the world. (SWNS)


Social media users were quick to point out the flaw in the post. (SWNS)
Social media users were quick to point out the flaw in the post. (SWNS)


That didn't stop hundreds of social media users wrongly thinking it was taken at Glasto, including Ellie Goulding, who posted it to her 5.7m Instagram followers.

It was taken by Los Angeles-based photographer Jeff Kravitz of 27-year-old Ryan Chen.


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Chen was paralysed from the waist down after injuring his spinal chord in a snowboarding accident.

The photo was posted on Reddit in 2014 with the caption 'Happiness' and was seen by thousands.

Many have now lifted the uncredited photo without realising when or where it was taken.