
BBC director-general was at Glastonbury during Bob Vylan performance
The performance at the West Holts Stage was livestreamed by the BBC but the organisation later expressed regret for not stopping its broadcast of the 'unacceptable' set.
A BBC spokesperson said: 'The director-general was informed of the incident after the performance and at that point he was clear it should not feature in any other Glastonbury coverage.'
The news of Mr Davie's presence at the festival comes as the Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis berated the BBC for what he called 'the airing of vile Jew-hatred' and the broadcaster's 'belated and mishandled response'.
The corporation has faced strong criticism for continuing to livestream the performance on iPlayer with on-screen warnings about discriminatory language.
Broadcasting regulator Ofcom saying it was 'very concerned' by the decision and the Culture Secretary claimed the issue should have been foreseeable and constituted 'a problem of leadership' for the BBC.
In a post on X, Sir Ephraim wrote: 'This is a time of national shame.
'The airing of vile Jew-hatred at Glastonbury and the BBC's belated and mishandled response, brings confidence in our national broadcaster's ability to treat antisemitism seriously to a new low.
'It should trouble all decent people that now, one need only couch their outright incitement to violence and hatred as edgy political commentary, for ordinary people to not only fail to see it for what it is, but also to cheer it, chant it and celebrate it.
'Toxic Jew-hatred is a threat to our entire society.'
Irish rap trio Kneecap, including member Liam Og O hAnnaidh who appeared in court earlier this month charged with a terror offence, took to the stage directly after Bob Vylan and led chants of 'Free Palestine'.
On Monday, Avon and Somerset Police said it had launched a probe into both performances after reviewing video footage and audio recordings, with a senior detective appointed to lead the investigation.
A police spokesman said: 'This has been recorded as a public order incident at this time while our inquiries are at an early stage.
'The investigation will be evidence-led and will closely consider all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crimes.'
In a statement on Monday, the BBC said: 'Millions of people tuned in to enjoy Glastonbury this weekend across the BBC's output but one performance within our livestreams included comments that were deeply offensive.
'The BBC 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.
'We welcome Glastonbury's condemnation of the performance.
'The performance was part of a livestream of the West Holts stage on BBC iPlayer.
'The judgment on Saturday to issue a warning on screen while streaming online was in line with our editorial guidelines.
'In addition, we took the decision not to make the performance available on demand.
'The team were dealing with a live situation, but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.'
US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau announced that Bob Vylan's US visas had been revoked due to 'their hateful tirade at Glastonbury', with the duo scheduled to tour in Chicago, Brooklyn and Philadelphia in October.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the Commons on Monday the Government was 'exasperated' with the 'lack of account from the leadership' at the BBC.
Ms Nandy said the incident at Worthy Farm had raised 'very, very serious questions at the highest levels of the BBC about the operational oversight and the way in which editorial standards are understood', adding that she wanted to see 'rapid action' from the broadcaster.
Cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said the scenes at Glastonbury raised wider concerns about society.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'There are some lessons, I think, for broadcasters from this, but let's also not shy away from the issue, which is people in a crowd glorifying violence.
'I don't think it's something we'd associate with any music festival, but it's a wider societal problem.'
He added:'It's possible, I think, to be completely concerned by the scenes in Gaza and not stray into the kind of behaviour and endorsement that we saw with that performance.
'And I'm deeply shocked to be honest, that people would even not realise what I think they're participating in when they do that.'
Glastonbury Festival organisers also condemned Bob Vylan's chants, saying it was 'appalled' by what was said on stage, adding 'there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence'.
Bob Vylan formed in Ipswich in 2017 and have released four albums addressing issues such as racism, masculinity and class.
Bobby Vylan is the stage name of Pascal Robinson-Foster, 34, according to reports. His bandmate drummer uses the alias Bobbie Vylan.
In a statement posted to Instagram, he said: 'Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place.
'As we grow older and our fire starts to possibly 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.'
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ITV News
2 hours ago
- ITV News
Sport stars pay tribute to late Doddie Weir in birthday video
Rugby stars Kenny Logan and Rob Wainwright and other sporting legends have paid tribute to the late Doddie Weir in a video released on what would have been his 55th birthday. The video has been created to honour the memory of Weir, and the legacy of the foundation he set up to find effective treatments for motor neurone disease (MND) after he was diagnosed with it in 2016. Weir founded the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation in 2017, and died in November 2022 aged 52. Those in the video include Olympic swimming medallist Duncan Scott, Olympic curling medallist Eve Muirhead, broadcaster and ex-footballer Ally McCoist, former England rugby player Mike Tindall and British and Irish Lions fly-half Fin Smith. Supporters from across the UK will wear Doddie tartan to work on Friday July 4, as part of a tradition marking what would have been the former rugby player's birthday. Kenny Logan, who played alongside Doddie as part of the 1999 Five Nations-winning Scotland side, said: 'Doddie was a leader in life, and he remains a leader in death. 'His memory inspires thousands of people, both inside and outside of the MND community, to take action and help bring an end to this devastating disease. 'We all know Doddie should still be here with us. He brought light and laughter into every room, even in the darkest days. It's up to all of us to dig deep, keep fundraising and finish what he started. 'We do it because we miss him. We do it because we love him. And we do it because nobody else should have to go through what he and his family did.' The My Name'5 Doddie Foundation has now committed almost £20 million to targeted research projects and launched a Catalysing A Cure strategy to speed up the search for effective treatments. Earlier this year it pledged £4 million to the MND Discovery Network, a new UK-wide initiative connecting leading scientists to accelerate progress. The film also features Jennie Starkey, who is living with MND and is part of the Foundation's Discovery Network board. The video comes after the end of the Doddie's Lions Challenge, in which a team led by Logan and including Ally McCoist, Gabby Logan, and Doddie's widow Kathy, cycled 555 miles around the island of Ireland in five days to deliver the match ball for the British and Irish Lions vs Argentina fixture in Dublin. The ride has so far raised almost £650,000 for MND research. My Name'5 Doddie Foundation chief executive Nicola Roseman, said: 'Doddie's spirit continues to galvanise the MND community. 'The outpouring of support and emotion on what would have been his 55th birthday shows just how many lives he touched and how much his story still matters. It also reminds us that there is still work to be done. 'Every birthday that passes without Doddie is another reminder of the urgency of our mission.'


BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Jarvis Cocker records special version of the Shipping Forecast to celebrate its 100th anniversary on the BBC
Friday 4 July marks 100 years since the first broadcast of the Shipping Forecast on BBC radio on 4 July 1925. To mark the occasion, Jarvis Cocker has recorded a special shipping forecast to be broadcast for an audience at the Crossed Wires Podcast Festival in Sheffield. The festival will welcome 'ships' fans to a special 100th anniversary programme with Radio 4 announcers Lisa Costello and Viji Alles, hosted by Chris Mason. The session is part of BBC Sounds' free Fringe festival with live podcast recordings and exclusive sessions, open to the public. Just two days before Pulp, aka Patchwork, were wowing crowds with a surprise performance at Glastonbury, Cocker was quietly nestled in the BBC Radio 4 studio, reflecting on his love for the Shipping Forecast. Cocker says: 'The Shipping Forecast is something you absorb unconsciously if you live in the UK. It's been on the airwaves for over 100 years… Now technically speaking, it's a weather guide designed to help sailors on the high seas. But it helps people navigate in other ways than that. For instance, for insomniacs, it's a mantra that hopefully helps them drift finally off to sleep.' He says: 'I think it's known around the world as a go-to chill-out thing - before chill-out things were invented, probably.' The Shipping Forecast is preceded by a piece of music called Sailing By. Cocker notably chose this track as one of the eight he would take to a desert island when he appeared on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 2005. Cocker says: 'When you listen to Sailing By, it really does feel like life is drifting past you in an extremely pleasant way. A handy go-to sedative to have to hand if you ever happen to become a castaway - or get cut off from normal life for any other reason.' Cocker used to listen whilst going to sleep, citing that 'the repetitive nature' and 'the soothing nature of the person who reads it' helped him to drop off. 'I think it's because it's a routine', he adds, 'it's on every day, so it's something that you can rely on. It's on at a set time, so it gives a bit of stability. And if the rest of your life isn't that stable, it can provide some kind of stability for it. Sailing By was a very relaxing piece of music... I know that a lot of people do use it for that kind of relaxing, almost 'meditation-like' thing.' When asked why he felt the Shipping Forecast was still important, he said: 'I think because even though sometimes it's talking about bad weather conditions and storms and stuff, it's actually an oasis of calm in the day. There's no musical backing to it, it's just a human voice talking to you. Some words, which you don't really know what they mean at all, but the sound of it is comforting and will put you into a nice place.' Cocker said some of his favourite place names include, German Bight – 'for some reason I always think of a cocktail sausage there. I suppose it's because a frankfurter cocktail sausage is a small frank.' - and Hebrides – 'I've actually been to the Hebrides, so that conjures up some kind of real image.' Imagining how the Shipping Forecast might sound in another 100 years, Cocker gave us his best robot impression, suggesting: 'It may be a robot who is saying 'north to northwesterly, occasionally poor.' I hope not. I think it would be better to keep it as a person. Who knows? We don't know what the world's going to look like in 100 years, or whether people will even be in it. If people are still in it, it might all be water. So everybody will be listening to it. It'd be like the number one programme, because everybody will be in a boat. Kevin Costner will be hailed as a seer who knew that we would all become a Water world one day. I don't know. I hope it is. I wouldn't be around to hear it anyway.' The Shipping Forecast is produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as part of the UK's statutory obligations to provide Maritime Safety Information to seafarers via approved broadcasting methods. The Shipping Forecast is also shared with the BBC for its own broadcast. An online journey through the one-hundred-year history of the Shipping Forecast can be found on the BBC History website. Special anniversary programmes from BBC Radio 4 are available now on BBC Sounds, including The Shipping Forecast: A Beginners Guide with Paddy O'Connell, The Shipping Postcards from continuity announcers, Archive on 4 – The Shipping Forecast at 100: Shipshaped and Soul Music: Sailing By. Listen to The Shipping Forecast on BBC Sounds Watch Pulp's set from Glastonbury on BBC iPlayer PS Follow for more


Times
3 hours ago
- Times
Bob Geldof on Live Aid at 40: ‘White saviour? That's nonsense'
At 73, Bob Geldof still looks very much the rock star in his leather jacket, shades and unruly mop of hair, now entirely grey. This coming Halloween, his band the Boomtown Rats, formed in his native Dun Laoghaire, south of Dublin, will celebrate their 50th (albeit with a long break) anniversary with a tour. His status as an international aid activist, however, has long eclipsed his late Seventies success as a musician, and we're meeting at Bafta, in Piccadilly, to talk about another anniversary. On July 13 it will be 40 years since the Live Aid gigs in London and Philadelphia, Geldof's follow-up to the Band Aid single he had co-written and co-ordinated the previous Christmas. That had been a response to reading Paul Vallely's reports in The Times, and seeing Michael Buerk's coverage for the BBC, of the devastating famine in northern Ethiopia. The BBC has now made three hour-long documentaries, about Band Aid, Live Aid and its 2005 successor, Live 8. Geldof is at Bafta to watch the second film and speak about it afterwards. I learn in a later phone call that he was not happy with some of the content. In the first film Geldof describes the 'shame and rage' he felt on seeing the pictures of young children starving to death 'in this world of plenty'. It will surprise no one to learn that four decades on, the rage is undimmed. Despite stiff competition in a nation famed for its passion and eloquence, Geldof would still merit selection to talk for Ireland. His conversation is, as we know, urgent, profane and colourful. He is a very bright man with an acute memory and a world-class contacts book, able to access pretty much anyone he thinks can help his cause. A sophisticated campaigner, Geldof is also, which is perhaps less acknowledged, an arch-pragmatist, working across politics to raise money and effect change. 'No business is more ruthlessly focused on the bottom line,' he tells me, 'than rock and roll.' • Tony Blair: Bono and Geldof saved millions of lives with Live Aid For instance, he gives short shrift to critics of Live Aid for not featuring many black artists. There were a fair few African-Americans on stage in Philadelphia but only Sade featured at Wembley. 'The line-up was about getting people who sold millions of records so we could raise millions of pounds. That was my sole criterion when I asked people. There weren't black artists in Britain at that time selling big numbers.' Geldof speaks highly of Andrew Mitchell, the Conservative minister of state for development and Africa, and his former boss, David Cameron, who as prime minister took UK overseas aid spending to 0.7 per cent of GDP. 'Cameron was given the day off from Eton to watch Live Aid. He told me it had influenced a generation. And when I sold my TV company Planet 24 to Michael Green, his PR was a young David Cameron, so I knew him.' He remains in touch with George W Bush, the former Republican president who gave so much money to combat HIV/Aids in Africa after being lobbied by the Bob and Bono double act. Bush appears in the third documentary, chuckling that 'Geldof looked like somebody who'd crawled out from under the ground'. Another indication of Geldof's realism is that he is less scathing than might be supposed about Labour's cuts to the aid budget to fund defence spending. 'Without any question, we need to rearm now. Not in f***ing 2029. Now. Our continent is being invaded now by an arch-thug [Putin]. So that's first.' He also recognises these are grim, ungenerous, pull-up-the-drawbridge times, far different from 2005, the pinnacle of his activism, when after many years of global economic growth the G8 Gleneagles summit agreed to partial debt cancellation and expanded aid for poor countries, thanks in part to 20 years of lobbying by campaigners like Geldof. 'Politics does what it's allowed to do by where society is at. People are very afraid at the moment, there's been a cultural shift. That allows Trump's mayhem on February 1. When Musk just pulled the plug on the USAID websites, instantly 10,000 USAID workers around the world were in serious danger. That allowed everyone else to say 'times are tough'. It's the brute politics of now. So all of this hoopla around this anniversary is frankly odd for me.' Even so, there is no limit to hoopla about Live Aid that someone my age (I was just shy of 21 in July 1985) is willing to hear. Geldof, showman that he is, duly obliges. Part of his critique of the documentary is that it did not include enough footage of the actual music, in London and Philadelphia, given that the standard was so high. 'Why is it remembered so vividly? Because of the link-up with America, and because people felt part of something bigger, but also because it was such a great concert. I don't think the film captured the glory of that.' • Daniel Finkelstein: Band Aid's critics are just feeding cynicism The other factor, I suggest, was that Live Aid was the first time the pop demographic, which in 1985 still largely meant people under the age of 30, had seen Paul McCartney playing Beatles songs. Nowadays, Macca trooping on stage flashing peace signs to close out a big event with Hey Jude or Let It Be is commonplace. In 1985 it was a revelation. 'It was his first time on stage since John died. Linda, Stella and the kids persuaded him to do it. He was driving up from Sussex, listening to U2 on the radio, and they were so good, he was getting really nervous, especially because once he'd said yes, given the hierarchy in pop, with the Beatles unassailable at the top, he had the added burden of closing the show. 'Paul asked me which song he should do and I said Let It Be, because it's a benediction. Then his mic fails and Pete Townshend [Geldof had bounced the Who into appearing by announcing on TV that they were reforming, which was news to them] grabs me from one side and says, 'Let's help him,' and David Bowie grabs me from the other, and with Alison [Moyet] we went out to sing along.' McCartney was not the only nervous superstar that night. 'David Bowie was literally trembling at the side of the stage before his set. Really scared. We were watching the viewing figures and becoming aware of the sheer size of the audience [close to two billion].' Before his performance, earlier on, Geldof had lain on the floor backstage to stretch out his painful back. 'David [Bowie] came by and said, 'What's the matter?' I told him and he said, 'Roll over,' and started massaging me. I'm saying, 'Bit further down, mate,' to David f***ing Bowie!' Geldof doesn't want to be overly critical of the latest documentary. 'But there were too many redundant DJs from the 1980s and some great performances not seen. Elvis Costello riffing on All You Need Is Love, Elton John and George Michael. I don't want to sound self-aggrandising but it was a fabulous gig. And it said, 'Change is possible, there is such a thing as society and for once in our lives, something can work.'' And, as Tony Blair says in the third episode, thanks to Band Aid and Live Aid, 'millions of people are alive today who otherwise wouldn't be'. Geldof still spends at least an hour a day, every day, 'including Sundays', on his role as chair, and one of six trustees, of the Band Aid Charitable Trust. Midge Ure, his co-founder, is another trustee, as is Harvey Goldsmith, who promoted Live Aid. That morning, he had listened to a brief about Somalia from a group asking for $80,000 to remove thousands of goitres [lumps in the neck] caused by iodine deficiency. 'It's amazing how much you can help with comparatively small amounts of money.' One section of the film that impressed me, I say, is how he knew right from the outset that if he went to Ethiopia after the success of Band Aid he would face criticism. The term 'white saviour complex' had yet to be coined in early 1985, when Geldof went to the refugee camps in Tigray, but that is what he was accused of having, then and since. He went because Ken Lennox, the veteran tabloid photographer and a neighbour in London, came round and told him he had to go for the famine to stay in the media spotlight. 'This white saviour thing is bollocks,' he says succinctly. 'It comes from all that 1968 Derrida/Foucault language bollocks. It's nonsense. 'I understood the argument. I was a late 20th-century creature of the media. I'm only in Africa because of television and some guy writing in The Times. The media came to me and said, 'When are you going to Africa?' I said, 'What are you talking about?' They said, 'You have to go.' And I said, 'Why?' And they said, 'Because you're the f***ing story'. 'And I said, 'I'm not the story. People are f***ing dying of no food in a world of surplus food, that's the story.' And they said, 'We can't keep doing the starving child, the starving mother, we've done it, Bob.'' So off he went. That was the moment when the course of his last 40 years was set. What Geldof is seeking, he says, is 'a new rhetoric' to get development back up the agenda. 'For years Britain led the way, the gold standard, soft power in excelsis.' He thinks one way to address concerns is to tackle concerns over immigration. 'What people want to do is stop a thousand people arriving each day on the boats. Fair enough. But Africa is the one continent of population growth. Look at Nigeria: about 240 million people now, the UN says it'll be 350 million by 2050. And those people currently aren't able to find work in the countries where they are. They are going to come. 'Nobody really wants to cross mountains and deserts or get in a rubber tube and try and get across the sea. So we shouldn't dodge this issue. We should say if we help build an economy at the very basic level of health, education and agriculture, and then invest in those economies, it will be good for Britain. It sounds pious and lefty, but it's evidence-based.' This is the essence and appeal of Geldof. So often patronised as a 'give us yer fecking money!' (which he didn't actually say) rabble-rouser, he is in fact a deeply realistic, gradualist, coalition-building expert. He finishes by urging me to go and see Just for One Day, the musical based on Live Aid running in the West End. 'It's a laugh, the music is insane, it's a cartoon and the poor f***er who has to play me, he's a Scouser, he's 6ft 4in, but unbelievably his party piece when he was nine years old, his granny used to make him get up on the kitchen table and do Bob Geldof.' And yes, the real thing is anything but inimitable, yet he is a very special man all the Aid at 40: When Rock'n'Roll Took on the World starts on Sunday, July 6 on BBC2 at 9pm Live Aid turns 40: tell us your best story Set the scene, where were you and how old were you? Then tell us what happened. Please share your response with us in a voice message on WhatsApp. You can reach us at +44 (0)7353096428