UK police reviewing rapper's anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury Festival
Rapper Bobby Vylan, of rap punk duo Bob Vylan, led crowds attending the festival in chants of 'free, free Palestine' and 'death, death to the IDF."
Avon and Somerset Police said video evidence would be assessed by officers 'to determine whether any offenses may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation."
The Israeli Embassy to the U.K. said on social media that it was 'deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Sunday condemned the band's actions as 'appalling." He told Sky News that the BBC and festival organizers had to answer questions about how the comments were broadcast live to millions.
The government said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has spoken to the BBC director general about Bob Vylan's performance.
The BBC said it issued a warning on screen about 'very strong and discriminatory language' during the live stream.
Saturday's festival lineup also included Irish-language rap group Kneecap, which gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio.
Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November.
The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O'Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August.
The group has faced criticism for lyrics laden with expletives and drug references, and for political statements, especially since videos emerged allegedly showing the band shouting 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah' and calling on people to kill lawmakers.
On Saturday band members led the audience in chants of 'Free Palestine' and 'Free Mo Chara.' They also aimed an expletive-laden chant at U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has said he didn't think it was 'appropriate' for Kneecap to play Glastonbury.
About 200,000 ticket holders have turned up in southwest England for Britain's most prestigious summer music festival, which features almost 4,000 performers on 120 stages.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
31 minutes ago
- New York Times
What to Know About Bob Vylan, the Band at the Center of a Scandal
Before this weekend, Bob Vylan was a rising punk band with about 273,000 monthly listeners on Spotify — hardly a household name. Now, after leading chants of 'Death, death to the I.D.F.' in reference to Israel's army at the Glastonbury festival in England, it has become punk rock's latest notorious act. On Monday, British police opened a criminal investigation into the chant, shortly after Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Jewish groups condemned it as hate speech. In the United States, the deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, said that the State Department had revoked visas for Bob Vylan's members, meaning the band can no longer play a planned U.S. tour. Despite all the attention now focused on the group, many people had never heard of it before. Here's what you need to know. Who is in Bob Vylan and what's its music like? A British punk-rap duo known for fast-paced, politically provocative songs, the group uses pseudonyms and deliberately obfuscates other biographical details. The singer goes by Bobby Vylan and the dummer by Bobbie Vylan Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
Rap duo Bob Vylan: 'We are being targeted for speaking up' after IDF chants
July 1 (UPI) -- The English alternative rap duo Bob Vylan responded Tuesday to recent backlash over comments in regard to the Israel-Hamas conflict during a performance over the weekend. "We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people," the band posted to its social media platform Tuesday. "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." "A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza," the post continued. In a performance streamed live from the Glastonbury Festival in England on Saturday by the BBC on Saturday, Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan led the crowd in chants like "Free, free Palestine," "Death, death to the IDF," in reference to the Israel Defense Forces," and "From the river to the sea." The American Jewish Committee states that "from the river to the sea" is "a phrase that can be used to call for the elimination of the State of Israel and/or ethnic cleansing of Jews living there, to be replaced with Palestinian control over the entire territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea." Since the performance, the U.S. State Department banned them from the United States. "The [State Department] has revoked the U.S. visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants," said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau in an X post Monday. "Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country," he added. The Avon and Somerset Police Department, who include Glastonbury in its jurisdiction, announced Monday that after having viewed video of the concert, "We have decided further enquiries are required and a criminal investigation is now being undertaken." The BBC also put out a statement Monday that "with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen." It also appears that Bob Vylan has been dropped by its representation group United Talent Agency, as the band's name is no longer listed on the UTA website. A link to a Bob Vylan UTA page now just leads back to the site's front page. "We are being targeted for speaking up," continued the post from Bob Vylan, "We are not the first. We will not be the last." "And if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up, too," it concluded. The group still lists tour dates for later this year set to take place around the United States, with no mention of the actions of the U.S. State Department.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Bank of England's Bailey defends bond programme after Reform UK criticism
By William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) -Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey defended the central bank's programme of government bond purchases and sales which has come under fire from some politicians for its cost. In a letter to Richard Tice, deputy leader of the Reform UK party which is led by former Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, Bailey said claims that the programme was more expensive than those run by other central banks did not tell the full story. Britain's government issued more long-term debt than other countries at a time when the BoE's bond-buying - or quantitative easing - was keeping borrowing costs low, giving the country a longer-lasting benefit, Bailey said. "Put simply, the cash flow cost of QE/QT is not therefore what it seems, and the outcome in these terms will be better," he said in the letter published on Monday. Reform - which is leading Britain's more established political parties in opinion polls - has said the government could save as much as 40 billion pounds ($53.6 billion) a year by stopping payment of interest to banks on reserves held at the BoE. Most of those reserves were created as a byproduct of the central bank's bond purchases which began in 2009 and reached a peak of almost 900 billion pounds in holdings in 2021. Since then, the BoE has sold much of its bond portfolio - known as quantitative tightening - and the programme is due to incur losses for the public finances because of a rise in interest rates and a subsequent fall in the value of the bonds. In his letter, Bailey said the bond purchases shielded Britain's economy from a string of economic shocks over the past 16 years. "It is easy to forget the severe problems we faced with these shocks," he said. "Although the counterfactual is unknowable with any precision, most estimates indicate that QE provided very significant support to the UK economy, protecting both jobs and tax revenues." Bailey said that ceasing paying interest on reserves was tantamount to increasing taxes on banks and would lead to lower interest payments for savers or higher interest rates for borrowers. He also disputed Reform's view that British banks were making excess profits. "Interest paid on reserves is not free money for the banks, not least as most of it is paid on to customers in the form of interest on their deposits," Bailey said. (Writing by William Schomberg; editing by David Milliken) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
