LONDON — Britain’s politicians are piling pressure on the British Broadcasting Corporation after a chant of “death to the IDF” was broadcast live from the Glastonbury music festival.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K.’s publicly-funded broadcaster “needs to explain” why a livestream remained on air after Bobby Vylan, frontman of punk duo Bob Vylan, led crowds Saturday in a chant of “death, death” to the Israel Defense Forces.
Starmer’s Skills Minister Jacqui Smith said Monday morning that Bob Vylan’s behavior had “undoubtedly crossed a line” and the police should investigate whether any of the language was criminal.
Smith told Times Radio that the BBC “made a mistake here. It’s not good enough simply to say on screen that this is dodgy language.”
A government spokesperson confirmed that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has spoken with BBC Director General Tim Davie about the performance.
Opposition politicians have already been piling in. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said Vylan was “inciting violence and hatred” and even suggested the BBC should be prosecuted for broadcasting the footage.
Philp added: “Our national broadcaster should not be transmitting hateful material designed to incite violence and conflict.”
Bob Vylan are not the first act to come under intense scrutiny over their stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.
Irish hip hop trio Kneecap also performed at Glastonbury. One of their members Liam Óg is facing a terror charge for allegedly displaying a flag supporting the proscribed organisation Hezbollah at a London gig. He denies the charge.
The broadcaster opted not to livestream their performance and instead put an edited version of Kneecap’s set online.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan’s set were deeply offensive.
“During this live stream on iPlayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and discriminatory language.
“We have no plans to make the performance available on demand.”
The post BBC under fire over ‘death to the IDF’ Glastonbury chant appeared first on Politico.
