Festival organiser gets death threats after cancelling Bob Vylan set
Catherine Jackson-Smith, who co-founded the Radar festival in Manchester, revealed she received an anonymous phone call after dropping the act following their 'death, death to the IDF' chant at Glastonbury.
Ms Jackson-Smith said the caller had made a number of 'vile' comments before ending the call by saying: 'We know who you are, we know what you look like, we know where you're going to be. Do you feel safe? Watch your back.'
Bob Vylan sparked outrage last weekend after rapper Pascal Robinson-Foster led the crowd in the controversial anti-Israeli chant during an appearance at Glastonbury that was broadcast live on the BBC.
The comments have been widely condemned as anti-Semitic and police have opened an investigation. Bob Vylan have claimed they are being 'targeted for speaking up'.
The duo were scheduled to perform in the headline Saturday slot at Radar, an independent festival that takes place at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Trafford Park, Manchester.
But in a brief Instagram post published on Wednesday, promoters said Bob Vylan would no longer be appearing.
Radar's social media accounts were quickly flooded with abusive comments, including accusations that the festival was 'complicit in genocide' and 'supports the incineration of babies'.
One social media user called on all other bands playing at Radar to boycott the festival in response, saying: 'If you don't pull out you support genocide.'
The threats highlight the scale of abuse levelled by activists in an increasingly incendiary debate over the conflict in Gaza.
It comes despite Ms Jackson-Smith insisting that she wanted Bob Vylan to perform but that she was 'forced' to pull the group after being told the festival could not go ahead if they remained on the line-up.
The festival boss said that telling the duo they could not perform was 'categorically one of the most horrendous professional discussions I've ever had'.
'I cannot express clearly enough that I wanted Bob Vylan to perform at our festival,' she told the 2 Promoters, 1 Pod podcast, adding that she had considered booking controversial Irish hip hop trio Kneecap as a secret set instead.
Radar and other festival organisers are also coming under pressure from pro-Israel lobby groups who are demanding that acts such as Bob Vylan and Kneecap be removed from line-ups.
UK Lawyers for Israel have taken credit for Radar's decision to cancel the act. The charity said it had written to Academy Music Group, owners of the O2 Victoria Warehouse, warning of potential breaches of the law should the duo repeat their chants.
A spokesman for the law group said: 'We are pleased to see that this kind of anti-Semitic hateful behaviour is not being tolerated by music venues.
'We hope this serves as a lesson to other performers that they cannot be racist and anti-Semitic with impunity.'
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