BBC takes action after admitting Bob Vylan was deemed ‘high risk’ before Glastonbury
The director-general has spoken up.

BBC director-general Tim Davie has shared an immediate action plan after revealing punk duo Bob Vylan was deemed ‘high risk’ before Glastonbury set.
Bob Vylan’s performance was livestreamed on the BBC last week and ended in chants including ‘death, death to the IDF [Israeli Defence Force]’ alongside various pro-Palestine slogans.
The duo have faced criticism from various figures including cultural secretary Lisa Nandy and have since defended their performance at Worthy Farm’s West Holts Stage.
The BBC issued a statement sharing its regret at not ending the livestream at the time (Irish rap trio Kneecap’s set had been pre-emptively pulled from the livestream with an edited version available on catch-up)
Now, Davie has added he ‘deeply regrets that such offensive and deplorable behaviour appeared on the BBC and want to apologise to our viewers and listeners and in particular the Jewish community’.
He continued: ‘[Bob Vylan was] deemed high risk following a risk assessment process applied to all acts appearing at Glastonbury.
Davie went into detail about the process leading up to Bob Vylan’s livestream (Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire)‘Seven acts including Bob Vylan were included in this category and they were all deemed suitable for live streaming with appropriate mitigations.
‘Prior to Glastonbury, a decision was taken that compliance risks could be mitigated in real time on the live stream – through the use of language or content warnings – without the need for a delay. This was clearly not the case.’
According to Davies the performance was monitored in line with ‘agreed compliance protocols’ and while ‘warnings’ appeared on the screen twice, it was an ‘error’ to not end the livestream.
A decision was made to not feature the coverage in any further content.
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Immediate measures are being put in place including the rule that ‘any music performances deemed high risk by the BBC will now not be broadcast live or streamed live.’
Tim Davie said there were seven ‘high risk’ artists identified including Bob Vylan (Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)He concluded: ‘Given the failings that have been acknowledged we are taking actions to ensure proper accountability for those found to be responsible for those failings in the live broadcast. We will not comment further on those processes at this time.’
The Israeli embassy also criticised Bob Vylan for the use of the chant ‘from the river to the sea Palestine… will be free.’
Health secretary Wes Streeting called it ‘appalling’ but told the embassy to ‘take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously.’
At the time, Glastonbury Festival also issued a statement saying the chants ‘very much crossed a line’.
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Previous Page Next Page The punk duo have stood by their actions as a police investigation is launched (Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire)The statement concluded: ‘There is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.’
The police confirmed they were investigating both Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s Glastonbury sets and were separately investigating one of the punk duo’s pre-Glastonbury sets.
In their own statement, Bob Vylan doubled down on their performance.
They wrote: ‘We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people, we are for the dismantling of a violent military machine.
‘A machine whose own soldiers were told to use “unnecessary lethal force” against innocent civilians waiting for aid.
They have been dropped by various music festivals (Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire)‘A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza. We, like those in the spotlight before us, are not the story. We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction.
‘The government doesn’t want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity? To ask why they aren’t doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?’
And have called the conversation around their Glastonbury set a ‘distraction’ and that they have been ‘targeted for speaking up’.
Bob Vylan’s US visas have been revoked ahead of their tour in America and they have also been pulled from multiple music festivals including Manchester’s Radar Festival and France’s Kave Fest.
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