Glastonbury officials released a statement Sunday denouncing by the chants and comments made by British punk and hip hop duo Bob Vylan from the festival’s stage Saturday.
The duo – Bobby Vylan serves as the singer and guitarist, while Bobbie Vylan plays drums – led the festival crowd in chants of “Death, Death To The IDF” and “Free, Free Palestine.” The duo also made use of the offensive slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be, will be, free.”
In a lengthy statement released today, festival organizers said:
“Glastonbury Festival was created in 1970 as a place for people to come together and rejoice in music, the arts and the best of human endeavour. As a festival, we stand against all forms of war and terrorism. We will always believe in – and actively campaign for – hope, unity, peace and love.
“With almost 4,000 performances at Glastonbury 2025, there will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose views we do not share, and a performer’s presence here should never be seen as a tacit endorsement of their opinions and beliefs.
“However, we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday. 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.”
Earlier, a BBC spokesperson Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set today as “deeply offensive” and said it won’t be making it available on demand. “Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan’s set were deeply offensive,” the BBC statement said. “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.”
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