BBC Acknowledges ‘Should Have Pulled’ Live Stream of Bob Vylan’s ‘Death to IDF’ Chants at Glastonbury

BBC regrets that it withdrew an online stream of a live performance by the rap group Bob Vylan at Glastonbury Festival because of antisemitic lyrics aimed at Israeli soldiers, the corporation said Monday (June 30, 2025).

To its heavy criticism, the British broadcaster aired the performance of the rap punk duo on Saturday (June 28, 2025), when Bobby Vylan, a rapper in the band led people attending the annual summer music festival regarded as the largest in the U.K. due to the band performing infront of them in chants that included: Free, free Palestine, Death, death to IDF, IDF stands for the Israel Defense Forces.

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The BBC said on 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 denounced the chants, adding that he could find no justifications to such an appalling hate speech.

“The BBC needs to explain how these scenes came to be broadcast,” Mr. Starmer said.

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The broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, also said it was particularly worried about the BBC livestream and the broadcaster obviously had questions to answer.

In their defence erlier, BBC had said that it had warned on the screen, of very strong and discriminatory language, when livestreaming.

A UK-based band, Bob Vylan, which started in 2017, released four albums related to problems that concern racism, masculinity and class. This comprises two members who do not want to reveal their true names in order to be more confidential.

Over six thousand persons killed and over 20,000 others, wounded in Gaza since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas broke last 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 1,32,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

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