British rap duo Bob Vylan drew widespread condemnation over the weekend from politicians, organizers of the Glastonbury music festival, the BBC and more after their lead singer led the crowd in chants of “death, death to the IDF,” a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the comments were “appalling hate speech” and called on the BBC to explain how the show was broadcast live.
The BBC said Monday it should have pulled the livestream of the rap duo’s performance at the U.K.’s largest music festival, calling the comments “antisemitic.”
“The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury’s condemnation of the performance,” the network wrote. “The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.”
The Israeli embassy also condemned Bob Vylan’s chant as “inflammatory and hateful rhetoric.”
“When such messages are delivered before tens of thousands of festivalgoers and met with applause, it raises serious concerns about the normalisation of extremist language and the glorification of violence,” the embassy tweeted.
The group’s lead singer, who goes by the stage name Bobby Vylan, issued his first statement on the matter the day after the performance.
“Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place,” he wrote on social media. “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.”
Bob Vylan played Saturday afternoon before Irish-language group Kneecap, which has also courted controversy for its stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Starmer said last week that he thought Kneecap should not play at Glastonbury nor have its performance broadcast by the BBC.
The Irish group lost its American visa sponsor in April after it ended its Coachella set with a series of pro-Palestinian messages, including “Free Palestine” and “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Bob Vylan is set to tour in the United States in the fall. On social media, critics circulated suggestions that the United States should rescind their visas.
“On it,” Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), a staunch supporter of Israel, responded to one tweet.
Source link
