According to the Telegraph, the BBC avoided airing the controversial Irish band Kneecap; however, the corporation did not do so when Vylan yelled out, "Death! Death, to the IDF!" repeatedly, having the crowd in Glastonbury repeat after him.
After the chants were aired on the BBC, the network was reprimanded by the government for allowing the broadcast of the chant without any edits or censoring of the chants. A spokesman for UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said that the official spoke to BBC director-general Tim Davie, wanting an explanation.
"The Culture Secretary has spoken to the BBC director-general to seek an urgent explanation about what due diligence it carried out ahead of the Bob Vylan performance and welcomes the decision not to re-broadcast it on BBC iPlayer," the spokesperson said.
The crowd was waving many Palestinian flags at the time of the performance and chanting from the rapper. A BBC spokesperson responded to the chant and its airing on the network, and said that it was "deeply offensive," and added that the network will not have the video available for replay. Police have also said that they are reviewing the video to see if Vylan will be prosecuted over the chants.
The rapper also launched into a tirade about a Jewish record company he worked for one time, “Recently a list was released of people trying to stop our mates Kneecap from performing here today. And who do I see on that f*cking list, but that bald-headed c*nt I used to f*cking work for."
“So look, we have done it all, from working in bars to working for f*cking Zionists," he added.
The embassy for Israeli in London wrote in response to the chants on X, “Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of democracy. But when speech crosses into incitement, hatred, and advocacy of ethnic cleansing, it must be called out—especially when amplified by public figures on prominent platforms."
“Chants such as ‘Death to the IDF’ and ‘From the river to the sea’ are slogans that advocate for the dismantling of the State of Israel and implicitly call for the elimination of Jewish self-determination. 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.”
