(UPI) — The BBC has apologized for live-streaming Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury Music Festival set over the weekend, calling it “deeply offensive” and “antisemitic.”
The British rap duo — comprised of artists Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan — led the concertgoers, some of whom were waving Palestinian flags, in chants of “Death, death to the IDF,” “From the river to the sea” and “Free, free Palestine” at the high-profile event, according to video posted on Bobby’s Instagram account.
After receiving expressions of what he described as being of both “support and hatred” over the weekend, Bobby doubled down on his message with an Instagram post Sunday, stating, “I said what I said.”
But the BBC is expressing regret over sharing the duo’s festival performance with a global audience.
“Millions of people tuned in to enjoy Glastonbury this weekend across the BBC’s output but one performance within our live-streams 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 BBC said in a lengthy statement Monday.
“The performance was part of a live stream 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,” the statement continued.
“In light of this weekend, we will look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air.”
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