LONDON — The BBC said Monday it should have pulled a livestream of rap group Bob Vylan’s performance at Glastonbury Festival over “antisemitic” chants against Israeli troops.
The British broadcaster has come under heavy criticism for broadcasting the rap punk duo’s performance Saturday, when rapper Bobby Vylan led crowds attending the U.K.’s largest summer music festival in chants of “free, free Palestine” and “death, death to the IDF,” the Israel Defense Forces.
The BBC said Monday that it “respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence.”
“The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves,” it said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the chants, saying there was no excuse for such “appalling hate speech.”
“The BBC needs to explain how these scenes came to be broadcast,” Starmer said.
Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, also said it was “very concerned” about the BBC livestream and said the broadcaster “clearly has questions to answer.”
The BBC said earlier in its defense that it had issued a warning on screen about “very strong and discriminatory language” during the livestream.
Bob Vylan, who formed in 2017, has released four albums addressing issues related to do with racism, masculinity and class. Its two members both keep their real names secret for privacy reasons.
In a statement posted on social media, Bobby Vylan said: “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.”
More than 6,000 people have been killed and more than 20,000 injured in Gaza since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March. Since the war began in October 2023 with a Hamas attack on Israel, Israeli attacks have killed more than 56,000 people and injured 132,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said that women and children make up more than half the 56,000 dead. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians, because they operate in populated areas.
