Faux-Scot Rod Stewart, a Londoner with a penchant for tartan, supporting the Scottish football team, and reenacting ISIS executions on social media, who has more recently taken to calling on his fans to vote for Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform party, had his legends set at Glastonbury broadcast in full by the BBC last night.
This would probably be unextraordinary had the impartial BBC not chosen to censor acts from the other end of the political spectrum such as Irish rappers Kneecap and London punk metallists Bob Vylan.
Kneecap were already controversial ahead of their set, with rapper Mo Chara having been charged with a terrorism offence in May after allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a gig last year. The BBC had stated ahead of time that the trio’s set would not be broadcast live due to fears it would breach “editorial guidelines” on impartiality, but promised fans it would be available on iPlayer “later on Saturday night.” This appeared not to happen, as per this journalist who was unable to find the set at 2.20am on Sunday, although it did go up at some point later in the day on Sunday. Kneecap had already been removed from the bill at several other festivals this summer over their perceived political stance, including Glasgow’s TRANSMT.
Then came Bob Vylan, whose singer Bobby Vylan led the crowd in a chant of “Death, Death to the IDF [Israeli Defence Force].” This set was broadcast live, but has since not been made available on iPlayer. Singer Bobby Vylan had been interviewed by the BBC a couple of years ago in a “Visit Rwanda” t-shirt rather similar to mine, so the Beeb probably shouldn’t have been overly surprised when he outed himself as a bit political.
As is fairly common in these circumstances, sections of the media jumped on the chant as anti-semitic, and Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis described the festival as “appalled” by Vylan’s words, after the group appeared to incite violence against a genocidal paramilitary.
Avon and Somerset Police confirmed at the weekend that both appearances were being looked into under anti-terrorism legislation, saying on social media: “We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon. Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”
Vylan responded: “While zionists are crying on socials, I’ve just had a tub of (vegan) ice cream.”
He added on Instagram: “Bobby Vylan stood by his actions, posting on Sunday on Instagram: “I said what I said.
“As we grow older and our fire possibly starts to dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us.
“Let us display to them loudly and visibly the right thing to do when we want and need change. Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered.”
The singer had posted on Instagram ahead of the gig: “Turns out we’re finally at a point where the BBC trust us on live tv! Watch us live either in the field or in the comfort of your own home!” Oops.
What seems certain is that the publicity will push Bob Vylan to a far greater level of fame than the band had ever previously imagined, much the same as what has happened with Kneecap since Sharon Osbourne took them on as her pet project to despise for their politics, and a far larger audience will be hearing Bob Vylan’s music after the weekend than before, albeit not on iPlayer.
Prolific North has approached the BBC for comment.
