Starmer criticises ‘appalling’ Bob Vylan IDF chants

The prime minister has condemned UK punk duo Bob Vylan for urging “death” to Israeli troops in what he called “appalling hate speech”.

Glastonbury Festival organisers have also said they were “appalled” after frontman rapper Bobby Vylan led chants of “free, free Palestine” and “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]”.

In a statement, Sir Keir Starmer said the BBC had questions to answer over its live broadcast of the group’s performance on Saturday.

A BBC spokesperson previously said some of the comments were “deeply offensive”, adding it had issued a warning on screen about “very strong and discriminatory language”. The set will not be available on BBC iPlayer.

Sir Keir has also criticised Kneecap saying ahead of the festival that their appearance was not “appropriate”. The Irish-language rap group have previously described Israel’s military action in Gaza as a genocide.

He said: “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.”

The prime minister is the latest in a string of cabinet ministers to denounce Bobby Vylan’s comments in the 24 hours since the group appeared at Glastonbury.

Directly after the set, a government spokesperson said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had pressed BBC boss Tim Davie for an urgent explanation of the broadcaster’s vetting process.

The government added that it welcomed the decision not to re-broadcast the performance on BBC iPlayer.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was “clear” the rapper was “inciting violence and hatred” and should be prosecuted.

In a post shared on X on Sunday, he also called on the police to “urgently investigate and prosecute the BBC” who he claimed “appear to have also broken the law”.

“Our national broadcaster should not be transmitting hateful material designed to incite violence and conflict,” he said.

The BBC has been asked for further comment.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme earlier, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Bob Vylan’s comments were “revolting”.

He said the “irony of that music festival is that Israelis were taken from a music festival, killed, raped and in some cases are still being held captive”.

Glastonbury Festival has said Bob Vylan’s statements “very much crossed a line”.

A joint Instagram post from Glastonbury Festival and organiser Emily Eavis on Sunday said the event stood “against all forms of war and terrorism”, and that with almost 4,000 performances on site “there will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose views we do not share”.

“However, we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday,” it continued.

“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.”

Bob Vylan are a London-based English punk-rap duo, who formed in Ipswich in 2017. They have previously performed at Reading and Leeds festivals and toured with the likes of the Offspring, the Hives and Biffy Clyro.

Bobby Vylan serves as the singer and guitarist, while Bobbie Vylan is the drummer of the band. Both members use stage names to maintain their privacy and collectively refer to themselves as “the Bobs”.

Posting on Instagram on Sunday evening, Bobby told fans he had been “inundated” with messages of “support and hatred”, and called for “a change in foreign policy”, adding underneath his post: “I said what I said.”

Antisemitism campaigners said they will formally complain to the BBC over its “outrageous decision” to broadcast the act live.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism group said in a post on X that Glastonbury had “continued its headlong descent into a pit of extremism and hatred, but it is the behaviour of the BBC that is even more dangerous”.

It said it would formally complain to the BBC for broadcasting the performance, as well as that of Kneecap.

The BBC did not run a live broadcast of Kneecap’s set due to editorial concerns around impartiality, but on Sunday announced the set had been made available on iPlayer, with some edits.

It said the content had been edited to ensure it “falls within the limits of artistic expression in line with our editorial guidelines” and any strong language had been signposted with “appropriate warnings”.

Kneecap has made headlines in recent months after rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offence.

He is accused of displaying the flag of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig last year. He has denied the charge.

Following sets from both groups, Avon and Somerset Police said it would review footage of comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage.

The force said footage “will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation”.

Kneecap’s highly-charged performance on Saturday was watched by thousands as they hit back at Sir Keir with expletive-laden chants.

Mr Ó hAnnaidh continues to be on bail and will appear at court for the next hearing on 20 August.

Separately on Sunday, the Met Police said it will not pursue prosecution after videos emerged in April appearing to show Kneecap calling for the death of British MPs.

“A range of offences were considered as part of the investigation. However, given the time elapsed between the events in the video and the video being brought to police attention, any potential summary only offences were beyond the statutory time limit for prosecution,” the force said.