BBC music boss reportedly steps back from duties after Bob Vylan set decision
It comes after singer Bobby Vylan, whose real name is reportedly Pascal Robinson-Foster, 34, led crowds in chants of 'death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)' during their set on Saturday afternoon.
In a statement on Thursday, the BBC admitted it had assessed the Ipswich-formed act as 'high risk' before Glastonbury but deemed them suitable for live streaming before later saying this was 'clearly not the case', and apologising for the group's 'deplorable behaviour'.
Clarke is reported to have stepped back from her responsibilities, which include overseeing six radio networks and live music events, while an investigation takes place, while a small group of senior BBC staff responsible for music and live events are also said to have stepped back.
Following the incident, the BBC confirmed it would no longer live stream acts it deems 'high risk'.
In the statement released on Thursday, the BBC said: 'We deeply regret 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.
'We are also unequivocal that there can be no place for antisemitism at, or on, the BBC.
'It is clear that errors were made both in the lead-up to and during Bob Vylan's appearance. We think it's important to set out some of the detail around the streaming of this performance.
'Bob Vylan were deemed high risk following a risk assessment process applied to all acts appearing at Glastonbury. 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.'
It added: '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.
'Furthermore, as a result we will make immediate changes to live streaming music events.
'Any music performances deemed high risk will now not be broadcast live or streamed live.'
Since the performance, Avon and Somerset Police have launched an investigation into the comments made during the group's West Holts Stage set.
It has also emerged that the group were already under investigation by police for comments made at a performance one month before Glastonbury.
Video footage appears to show Bobby Vylan at Alexandra Palace telling crowds: 'Death to every single IDF soldier out there as an agent of terror for Israel. Death to the IDF.'
The group issued a statement on Tuesday claiming they were being 'targeted for speaking up'.
The band have also had their US visas revoked, ahead of their tour later this year, were pulled from their Saturday headline slot at Radar festival in Manchester and from an upcoming performance at a German music venue.
Bob Vylan are expected to perform at the Boardmasters surfing and music festival in Newquay, Cornwall, in August.
The group is known for addressing political issues in their music including racism, masculinity and class, and have released four albums in Dread (2019), We Live Here (2020), Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life (2022), and Humble As The Sun (2024).
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5 hours ago
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Fresh from a triumphant Glastonbury performance and gigs elsewhere in the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland and Italy, Rodgers will be strapping on his signature hit-maker Fender Stratocaster with Chic as they lead the audience through a dance-fuelled set of hits such as Dance, Dance, Dance, Everybody Dance, Le Freak, I Want Your Love and Good Times. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Over Zoom from the US Rodgers is his usual smiling self, complete with hat and long locks, straight away telling me how much Chic love playing Barrowland, having played there multiple times. So what is it about Glasgow's legendary venue that gets the icon into the groove every time? Nile Rodgers and Chic perform at Glastonbury festival last month. | Getty Images 'It's the vibe of the Barrowland. It's all about the people. The reason I love coming back is because of the sense of appreciation and fulfillment we get. You can't really compare that to anything else. 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I remember my girlfriend turned me on to this and there was no such thing as stranger danger. I never heard a bad story, like now it seems that's all we hear. And I know mathematically that there are no more bad people now than there were then, so I just take it as mostly people are good, and every now and then you meet jerks, but most of the time people are really cool.' With the extensive touring, producing, writing and charity work that Rodgers is involved in, is he ever able to go and watch other musicians play? 'Rarely. I love to, but it's rare. I saw Esperanza Spalding and Adam Lambert at the Polar awards [The 2025 Polar Music Prize ceremony in Stockholm last month], and that was great, that was cool and fun, but that's not my normal life. 'My normal life is I'm going from one place to the next. I rarely have leisure time because I'm working on other projects. Doing live gigs is not my life, that's just one small part of it.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad With Barrowland ready and waiting does Rodgers have the playlist ready for the gig, and is it a set or does it change? 'It changes all the time because we have an idea of the amount of time that we have on stage. As a person, I'm very cognisant of other artists and I never go over time. Chic is incredibly prompt. We're like a machine. And what's really interesting is that we're not a machine, we're a completely live band. Almost every band you see has click tracks and secret backing tracks and stuff like that, and believe me I know, because I know almost every band out there, but we're completely live. 'But we're very prompt. I have my stage manager saying 'OK, you've got five minutes, three minutes, two minutes, you've got to be on stage'. We're very, very, very cognisant of the other acts, and because we're live, we're not locked to a clock, so we have to be aware of how much time we're on stage because sometimes I'll talk and just go off the rails and start telling stories and that's not really what we're there for. We're there to play music. But sometimes you can't help it. The vibe is so great. And because I've been to all these countries so many times I have nothing but great memories that sometimes I want to share, so I tell them.' And will he be playing his trademark white Fender Stratocaster with the maple fingerboard? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Of course. It's the only guitar I play. If I break a string the audience has to wait for me to change the string.' Does he not have a spare, or other guitars? 'I have tons of them, but I only play that one.' Nile Rodgers performing with Chic at TRNSMT Festival, Glasgow, 2022. | Getty Images Looking back over his lengthy career, of what is Rodgers most proud, some of the hits, his influence on other musicians, his longevity, his success, his charity work? 'That's really high on my list,' he says, referring to his We Are Family Foundation, set up in 2008 and which has funded schools in Malawi, Mali, Nepal and Nicaragua, created a diversity and tolerance curriculum that was sent to every elementary school in the US and is dedicated to create programmes that 'promote cultural diversity while nurturing and mentoring the vision, talents and ideas of young people who are positively changing the world'. 'What we're doing now, it's beyond anything I ever thought we could accomplish and now I know we gotta be doing SO much more because the people in my life now, and just what's going on in America now, it drives me to work in other situations and it opens my mind to developing programmes in other countries because now I really see that… God, you know, there's so much going on in the world that really governments don't address, and we really deal with young people who are addressing those problems and actually making a change. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'And when I was a kid, that's what my life was like. It was not only discovering the problem or becoming aware of the problem but it was actually working on the problem, helping to mend the problem, trying to fix it. On a previous occasion Rodgers told me how when he was a child he had fallen behind a sofa pushed against a wall in the family home and was stuck there for hours, unnoticed. What would he say to that child now, a scared little boy who has no idea how his life will unfold? 'It's going to be amazing.' He pauses and thinks back. 'I thought I was dying. I couldn't breathe. I had asthma. I can't believe that you know that story. Yeah, I fell behind the sofa, and I was a skinny, skinny, skinny little kid and had really bad asthma, and who'd ever have thought that I'd go on to make music for a living? 'Actually I thought that then, believe it or not, but I never would have imagined that it would get to this level, that I'd do songs and video games and theatre and pop records and classical records and jazz records, I mean just anything that artistically comes my way that I'm interested in. It's amazing.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Which just leaves time to wish him all the best for the Barrowland gig and the rest of the tour. 'Thank you. I hope I'll see you all at the show.'
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Noah Kahan sends fans wild as he brings out surprise guest Lewis Capaldi at his BST Hyde Park headline show - after Scottish singer's emotional Glastonbury comeback
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He took a two-year hiatus to focus on his mental health and 'adjust' to his Tourette's diagnosis after he was left unable to finish his Glastonbury set back in 2023. But he reduced fans to tears when he finally returned to Glastonbury over the weekend, and his comeback has been nothing short of exceptional. Lewis also released brand new track Survive on Friday, which details his difficult two years - and it's been a huge hit with millions of fans across the country as it has topped the charts. Lewis has landed not only his biggest ever opening, but the largest first week of any single released this year with the comeback track in a landslide achievement. Survive has shifted a whopping 68,500 units in its first week, including more than four million streams, surpassing the much-loved singer's previous best of 56,000 with the 2022 song Forget Me. Gushing about the support he's received since his highly-anticipated comeback last week, Lewis said: 'Survive is this week's UK Number 1, and I want to say a massive thank you to everybody who's been streaming it, downloading it - it really means the world. 'I've been away for a little while and to come back to this outpouring of love and support has been absolutely incredible. 'I can't thank everybody enough for all the kind words since Glastonbury - and now this! 'It's been the best week of my life. I hope you continue to enjoy the song, it means a lot to me.' Lewis pipped producers MK and Chrystal to top spot as their track Dior sat in second in place, while filling the remaining three spots in the top five were Sabrina Carpenter's Manchild, Rayvn Lenae's Love Me Not and Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan. Such is the mania surrounding Lewis' return that the public's interest in his old music has too sky-rocketed after he made a tearful return to Glastonbury last week. Streams of Someone You Loved shot up by 115 per cent, while his 2019 chart-topping album Divinely Inspired surged by 198 per cent. Lorde, who took to the stage just hours before Lewis at Glastonbury last Friday, also scored her first ever Number 1 album in the United Kingdom this week with Virgin. She beat competition from Bruce Springsteen's Tracks II (second), Short N Sweet from Sabrina Carpenter (third), and Ed Sheeran in fourth spot. The New Zealand-born singer, whose racy new vinyl cover sparked controversy, said she couldn't believe the support she's received since the new album dropped. Speaking to the Official Charts, Lorde gushed: 'I cannot believe that I've got Number 1 in the UK! This is absolutely insane. 'I felt so much love from the UK on Virgin. I cannot thank you enough and I cannot wait to see you on tour very, very soon!' Glastonbury was quite the star-studded affair but a major highlight was Lewis' emotional return to the spotlight. Greeted by huge cheers from the thousands at Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage last week, he made an emotional return two years after he was left unable to finish his set at the festival. He tearfully told supporters: 'Two years ago I wasn't sure if I'd ever do this again, but I'm back baby!' Lewis sung a number of his famous hits, before once chocking back tears as he performed Survive for the first time in front of scores of supporters. Fans in the crowd could be seen crying and calling out his name before joining him in a rendition of mega-hit Someone You Loved. In his emotional speech, Lewis said: 'Glastonbury it's good to be back. Won't say too much up here today as if I do I might start crying, but I can't thank you enough for coming here and being with here'. 'Second times a charm hey! It's a short set today but just wanted to come and finish what I couldn't last time, also this was like the worst kept f*****g secret ever'. Amid the success of the performance and that of his tear-inducing new single, the Scotsman announced a new tour this week consisting of 10 dates. The Someone You Love singer will play venues in Sheffield, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Nottingham and two days at the 02 later this year. Lewis confirmed on Instagram that these would be his 'only shows' in the UK, Ireland and Europe this year. Pre-sale tickets go on sale on July 8, while general sale is on July 10.
