Latest news with #BobVylan
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bob Vylan Frontman Slams Politicians And Mainstream Media's Stark U-Turn On Gaza
The frontman of the punk-rap duo Bob Vylan has admitted that seeing certain politicians' stance on the conflict in the Middle East change has left him feeling 'like I've truly gone crazy'. Last month, Bob Vylan delivered one of the most talked-about sets at this year's Glastonbury festival, where they made headlines after leading the crowd in chants of 'free Palestine' and 'death to the IDF', referring to Israel's army. At the time, the group faced condemnation from Glastonbury's organisers, the BBC – who broadcast the set live on its iPlayer service – and prime minister Keir Starmer. Meanwhile, local police said shortly afterwards that they were opening a criminal investigation based on both Bob Vylan and Kneecap's Glastonbury sets, though this has since been confirmed to have been dropped. In the last few weeks, after more photos and news from Gaza have become further shared on social media and in the mainstream media, many have taken a firmer stance against Israel and in solidarity with Palestine. This includes Starmer himself, who issued a statement on Thursday taking issue with the 'suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza', which he described as 'unspeakable and indefensible'. The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 24, 2025 Posting on X on Monday morning, musician Bobby Vylan wrote: 'Watching politicians and mainstream media suddenly change their rhetoric on the genocide makes me feel like I've truly gone crazy. 'Can someone please confirm that a few weeks ago they villainised us on the front pages for being against this while they were very much pro-genocide?' He added: 'I beg, we must never let them forget the stance they took and the damage they could have prevented, the lives they could have saved. We have to remind them every time they cross our path.' Watching politicians and mainstream media suddenly change their rhetoric on the genocide makes me feel like I've truly gone crazy. Can someone please confirm that a few weeks ago they villainized us on the front pages for being against this while they were very much pro-genocide. — Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) July 28, 2025 I beg, we must never let them forget the stance they took and the damage they could have prevented, the lives they could have saved. We have to remind them every time they cross our path. — Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) July 28, 2025 Reacting to the media furore surrounding their Glastonbury set last month, Bob Vylan members Bobby and Bobbie Vylan insisted in a joint statement: '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. A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.' '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,' the pair continued. 'The more they talk about Bob Vylan, the less they spend answering for their criminal inaction.' READ MORE: 'We Are Not The Story': Bob Vylan Speak Out After Glastonbury Set Sparks Criminal Investigation Bob Vylan Share Defiant Message At First Live Show Since Glastonbury Controversy BBC Announces Immediate Changes After Glastonbury Controversy
Spectator
3 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
The BBC has finally done something right
This isn't a sentiment you'll have read much in recent weeks, given the BBC's series of appalling misjudgements and editorial disasters. But here goes: Three cheers for the BBC. Its critics are completely wrong and its decision making is spot on. To be clear, I'm not referring to its coverage of Bob Vylan at Glastonbury, the Gaza documentary narrated by the son of a Hamas minister or the BBC's sacking of the two Masterchef presenters. I'm talking about something it has actually got right – but for which it is nonetheless being lambasted: the decision not to decamp its entire political team, and all its political programmes, to this year's party conferences. Previously the lunchtime Politics Live programme has been broadcast from what we used to call the two main party conferences – Labour and the Conservatives – along with Newsnight and much of the news channel's output. To do that, the BBC has taken around 80 journalists and technicians. That compares with three for ITV and eight for Channel 4. Bloated, you say? In years gone by, it was possible to see the validity of such largesse in staffing and coverage. The party conferences used to matter. For hacks, they provided an invaluable opportunity to take 'the feel' of party members and to speak to politicians in a less guarded environment – especially in the bars late at night. For Labour, the proceedings in the hall also mattered, with its jargon of composites, motions and references back all feeding into an atmosphere where votes counted for something. I spent too many years having to attend them, first as a policy wonk and later as a hack. You really did have to be there. There was the Bennite wars of the 1980s, the Militant years and John Smith's 1993 OMOV (one member, one vote) fight. There was Tony Blair's first conference speech in 1994, when he argued for the abolition of Clause IV (Labour's constitutional commitment to 'the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange') and almost no one in the hall realised what he was saying. Labour conference was the arena in which the party's future was played out, with fringe meeting battles and – literally – smoke-filled rooms. Although the conferences mattered, I hated them. All the people I wanted to spend time with I could do so in London. I never got to grips with being forced to spend time with people I had no wish to spend time with, but in a secure area. Add to that the permanent stench of stale air and the annual conference cold, and I was thrilled when I no longer had to go. Party conferences now are just stage shows, like the US conventions, which exist solely to provide fodder for social media clips of Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch's speeches and to give the mainstream news broadcasters something to talk about. For the party faithful they're a fun – each to their own – few days of political self-indulgence and a chance to get drunk with people you've seen on telly. For everyone else, they are meaningless for anything other than the set piece speeches – which could equally be broadcast, like Keir Starmer's first as Labour leader during covid in 2020, online from an empty room. The BBC is quite right to call out the emperor's new clothes. The conferences don't need – and don't deserve – the broadcast army of hacks they've always had. Not least because now they're not even necessarily the most relevant gatherings, with Reform increasingly solid ahead in the polls. Caroline Dinenage, chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, told PoliticsHome, which broke the story: 'It's a surprising move by the BBC, who took over 500 of their staff to Glastonbury.' She has a point – but the point isn't that the BBC should take its usual army to the conferences, it's that it took an absurd number to Glastonbury. PoliticsHome also quotes a BBC source: 'We're really upset about it.' Chacun à son goût.
Vancouver Sun
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Toronto police open hate-crime investigation after ArtHouseTO shares 'Death to the IDF!' image
The Toronto police have opened a hate-crime investigation into an art group after they shared a graphic on Instagram proclaiming: 'Death, Death to the IDF!' The refrain, chanted by British rap duo Bob Vylan during a performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June, was reshared on the social media account of ArtHouseTO alongside a cartoon of a skeleton wearing a military helmet with the Israeli flag and a bullet hole dripping with blood. 'Hell yeah! From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free, will be, Inshallah, it will be free!' says the original post, which was published on June 29 by @ryanazak and then reshared by ArtHouseTO. Toronto, CA 🇨🇦 ArtHouseTO is not just a controversial "art" space, it's a hub for dangerous, pro-Hamas propaganda. In addition to their disturbing and potentially criminal promotion of 'DEATH DEATH TO THE IDF', targeting Israeli soldiers in the only Jewish state with mandatory… On June 30, Facts Matter, an antisemitism watchdog group, reported the matter to the Toronto Police Service (TPS). On July 16, Facts Matter issued a press release announcing a hate-crime investigation had been opened. TPS independently verified the development this week, telling National Post in a brief written statement 'that the Hate Crime Unit is investigating' the matter. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'We applaud the Toronto Police for acting swiftly and taking this matter seriously,' Canadian journalist and Facts Matter founder Warren Kinsella said in the press release. 'Hate has no place in Toronto, and no amount of artistic expression can disguise the promotion of violence and bigotry.' ArtHouseTO co-creator Geoff Doner told the Post in an email on Tuesday that the artwork 'was another artist's (not our work) creative rendering of a chant heard at Glastonbury Festival, artwork we felt culturally relevant at the time. 'Because we take responses to our content seriously, we chose to take down the artwork as it was deemed offensive by some,' Doner said. Although the graphic has been deleted, ArtHouseTO has left several messages of support for the statement on their Instagram feed. On July 2, the communal art group reposted another message defending Bob Vylan's call. 'Chanting 'Death, Death to the IDF' is a morally required rallying cry against a genocidal army that continues to mass murder, starve, torture, rape, displace and maim Palestinians at an unprecedented rate,' reads the post from @jewssaynotogenocide . Two days later, ArtHouseTO reposted a social media message from an Australian commentator bemoaning how 'people opposing genocide are called hateful Nazis, where genocidal soldiers are a protected group and chanting for their death is a hate crime.' Other controversial posts ArtHouseTO has reportedly reshared on Instagram include one from @cakes_stencils, which shows a cartoon stick figure throwing the flag of Israel in the garbage above the caption: 'Zionism will be thrown in same garbage dump of history of exploitative and racist ethno-nationalist ideologies,' listing white supremacy, Nazism and Apartheid South Africa. Doner called Facts Matter's police report a form of 'harassment (which) has made it unsafe for my family and for my neighbours.' 'We were never contacted directly or invited for dialogue by anyone in regards to hearing our perspective and have since been subjected to doxxing and harassment online and in person at our Cultural Hub,' he said, adding that he has also 'initiated a police investigation into the individuals harassing us online and in person at our Cultural Hub.' Corey Herscu, a senior advisor with Facts Matter, expressed no interest in speaking with ArtHouseTO. 'As our name implies, we only deal in facts. And the fact is that group posted, 'Death to the IDF.' They are the author of their own misfortune,' he told the Post in a written statement. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Edmonton Journal
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Toronto police open hate-crime investigation after ArtHouseTO shares 'Death to the IDF!' image
The Toronto police have opened a hate-crime investigation into an art group after they shared a graphic on Instagram proclaiming: 'Death, Death to the IDF!' Article content The refrain, chanted by British rap duo Bob Vylan during a performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June, was reshared on the social media account of ArtHouseTO alongside a cartoon of a skeleton wearing a military helmet with the Israeli flag and a bullet hole dripping with blood. Article content Article content 'Hell yeah! From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free, will be, Inshallah, it will be free!' says the original post, which was published on June 29 by @ryanazak and then reshared by ArtHouseTO. Article content Toronto, CA 🇨🇦 ArtHouseTO is not just a controversial "art" space, it's a hub for dangerous, pro-Hamas propaganda. In addition to their disturbing and potentially criminal promotion of 'DEATH DEATH TO THE IDF', targeting Israeli soldiers in the only Jewish state with mandatory… — FactsMatter (@AllFactsNoHate) July 8, 2025 Article content On June 30, Facts Matter, an antisemitism watchdog group, reported the matter to the Toronto Police Service (TPS). On July 16, Facts Matter issued a press release announcing a hate-crime investigation had been opened. TPS independently verified the development this week, telling National Post in a brief written statement 'that the Hate Crime Unit is investigating' the matter. Article content 'We applaud the Toronto Police for acting swiftly and taking this matter seriously,' Canadian journalist and Facts Matter founder Warren Kinsella said in the press release. 'Hate has no place in Toronto, and no amount of artistic expression can disguise the promotion of violence and bigotry.' Article content ArtHouseTO co-creator Geoff Doner told the Post in an email on Tuesday that the artwork 'was another artist's (not our work) creative rendering of a chant heard at Glastonbury Festival, artwork we felt culturally relevant at the time. Article content Article content 'Because we take responses to our content seriously, we chose to take down the artwork as it was deemed offensive by some,' Doner said. Article content Article content Although the graphic has been deleted, ArtHouseTO has left several messages of support for the statement on their Instagram feed. On July 2, the communal art group reposted another message defending Bob Vylan's call. 'Chanting 'Death, Death to the IDF' is a morally required rallying cry against a genocidal army that continues to mass murder, starve, torture, rape, displace and maim Palestinians at an unprecedented rate,' reads the post from @jewssaynotogenocide.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Toronto police open hate-crime investigation after ArtHouseTO shares 'Death to the IDF!' image
The Toronto police have opened a hate-crime investigation into an art group after they shared a graphic on Instagram proclaiming: 'Death, Death to the IDF!' The refrain, chanted by British rap duo Bob Vylan during a performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June, was reshared on the social media account of ArtHouseTO alongside a cartoon of a skeleton wearing a military helmet with the Israeli flag and a bullet hole dripping with blood. 'Hell yeah! From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free, will be, Inshallah, it will be free!' says the original post, which was published on June 29 by @ryanazak and then reshared by ArtHouseTO. On June 30, Facts Matter, an antisemitism watchdog group, reported the matter to the Toronto Police Service (TPS). On July 16, Facts Matter issued a press release announcing a hate-crime investigation had been opened. TPS independently verified the development this week, telling National Post in a brief written statement 'that the Hate Crime Unit is investigating' the matter. 'We applaud the Toronto Police for acting swiftly and taking this matter seriously,' Canadian journalist and Facts Matter founder Warren Kinsella said in the press release. 'Hate has no place in Toronto, and no amount of artistic expression can disguise the promotion of violence and bigotry.' ArtHouseTO co-creator Geoff Doner told the Post in an email on Tuesday that the artwork 'was another artist's (not our work) creative rendering of a chant heard at Glastonbury Festival, artwork we felt culturally relevant at the time. 'Because we take responses to our content seriously, we chose to take down the artwork as it was deemed offensive by some,' Doner said. Although the graphic has been deleted, ArtHouseTO has left several messages of support for the statement on their Instagram feed. On July 2, the communal art group reposted another message defending Bob Vylan's call. 'Chanting 'Death, Death to the IDF' is a morally required rallying cry against a genocidal army that continues to mass murder, starve, torture, rape, displace and maim Palestinians at an unprecedented rate,' reads the post from @jewssaynotogenocide. Two days later, ArtHouseTO reposted a social media message from an Australian commentator bemoaning how 'people opposing genocide are called hateful Nazis, where genocidal soldiers are a protected group and chanting for their death is a hate crime.' Other controversial posts ArtHouseTO has reportedly reshared on Instagram include one from @cakes_stencils, which shows a cartoon stick figure throwing the flag of Israel in the garbage above the caption: 'Zionism will be thrown in same garbage dump of history of exploitative and racist ethno-nationalist ideologies,' listing white supremacy, Nazism and Apartheid South Africa. Doner called Facts Matter's police report a form of 'harassment (which) has made it unsafe for my family and for my neighbours.' 'We were never contacted directly or invited for dialogue by anyone in regards to hearing our perspective and have since been subjected to doxxing and harassment online and in person at our Cultural Hub,' he said, adding that he has also 'initiated a police investigation into the individuals harassing us online and in person at our Cultural Hub.' Corey Herscu, a senior advisor with Facts Matter, expressed no interest in speaking with ArtHouseTO. 'As our name implies, we only deal in facts. And the fact is that group posted, 'Death to the IDF.' They are the author of their own misfortune,' he told the Post in a written statement. MPs call on Canada to bar British rap duo Bob Vylan over 'death, death to the IDF' chant at Glastonbury Jewish group calls on Ontario government to address antisemitism in schools following federal report Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
