The British Broadcasting Corporation confronts mounting political pressure after broadcasting live footage of punk duo Bob Vylan leading chants of “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” during their Glastonbury Festival performance on Saturday.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared the incident involved “appalling hate speech,” demanding the publicly-funded broadcaster explain why the livestream remained on air.
There is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech. I said that Kneecap should not be given a platform and that goes for any other performers making threats or inciting violence.
Skills Minister Jacqui Smith asserted that Bob Vylan’s behaviour had “undoubtedly crossed a line.”
I think it [the BBC] made a mistake here. It’s not good enough simply to say on screen that, you know, this is dodgy language. It was far beyond that and it shouldn’t have been broadcast live. And I think it would have been possible for the BBC to stop that.
Meanwhile, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp escalated the criticism, alleging the rapper was “inciting violence and hatred” and urging police to “urgently investigate and prosecute the BBC” which he claimed “appear to have also broken the law.” Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy pressed BBC Director General Tim Davie for an “urgent explanation” of the broadcaster’s vetting processes.
Concurrently, Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they are assessing video evidence to “determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”
The controversy extended to Irish rap trio Kneecap, who performed after Bob Vylan. The BBC opted not to livestream their set due to existing “editorial concerns around impartiality” related to member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh’s ongoing terrorism charge for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag. An edited version of Kneecap’s performance later appeared on iPlayer with “appropriate warnings.”
The BBC acknowledged in a statement that “some of the comments made during Bob Vylan’s set were deeply offensive,” confirming it issued an on-screen warning about “very strong and discriminatory language” during the livestream and would not make the performance available on demand.
By Monday, the corporation conceded it “should have pulled the stream during the performance,” calling the antisemitic sentiments “utterly unacceptable” and pledging to review guidance for live events.
Glastonbury organisers issued a joint statement declaring themselves “appalled” by Bob Vylan’s statements, which they said “very much crossed a line”.
Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.
The Israeli Embassy condemned the chants as advocating “the elimination of Jewish self-determination,” warning they raised “serious concerns about the normalisation of extremist language.” However, frontman Bobby Vylan remained unrepentant:
I said what I said. […] Let us display to them loudly and visibly the right thing to do when we want and need change. Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered.
