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LAST UPDATE | 1 Jul
THE BBC PLEDGED that its coverage of this year’s Glastonbury Festival would “bring the nation together” but instead, it ended with calls for the broadcaster’s director general to resign.
It’s been reported in the UK that BBC director general Tim Davie was at Glastonbury on Saturday when rap punk duo Bob Vylan led chants of “death to the IDF”.
Davie was on a visit to meet staff at the festival on Saturday afternoon and he has come under scrutiny for how he reacted to being informed about Bob Vylan’s set.
The BBC is Glastonbury’s exclusive broadcast partner and airs covers of the festival across TV, radio and on the BBC iPlayer – the BBC’s version of the RTÉ Player.
And while the BBC doesn’t get to choose who plays at Glastonbury, it does get to choose who it airs live, be that on TV or live-streamed on the iPlayer.
Under mounting pressure, the BBC decided not to air Kneecap’s performance live on Saturday afternoon.
A woman who live-streamed Kneecap’s Glastonbury has since accused the BBC of censorship, after over a million people tuned in to her TikTok Live from the festival.
In a statement prior to the festival, a BBC spokesperson said: “Whilst the BBC doesn’t ban artists, our plans will ensure that our programming will meet our editorial guidelines.”
However, the BBC has now pledged to “look at” its editorial guidelines following a set which saw Bob Vylan lead chants of “death to the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces)”.
Prior to Glastonbury, all the furore in the British press surrounded Irish-language rap trio Kneecap.
British prime minister Keir Starmer had called for Glastonbury to drop Kneecap from the billing and for the BBC to not broadcast their performance.
Starmer said it was “not appropriate” for Kneecap to perform.
Kneecap’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh , whose stage name is Mo Chara, appeared in court last month charged with displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation in Britain, during a gig in the O2 Forum, Kentish Town last November.
The BBC did not air Kneecap’s Glastonbury set live, though it did later upload a largely unedited version to the BBC iPlayer.
During Kneecap’s set, Naoise O Caireallain, who performs under the name Moglai Bap, told Glastonbury they would “start a riot outside the courts” when Ó hAnnaidh next makes an appearance, before clarifying: “No riots, just love and support, and support for Palestine.”
Bob Vylan performed on Glastonbury’s West Holts Stage just before Kneecap, but their performance was live streamed on the BBC iPlayer.
Speaking to The Journal today from Japan, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the police investigation into Kneecap is a “matter for the police in Britain to do what it feels has to do, and I’m not going to interfere in that”.
And while he didn’t see the Kneecap set, Martin said he did see some of Bob Vylan’s performance online.
“I thought there are issues there,” said Martin. “That can have knock-on consequences.
“It’s a matter for the police now but generally speaking, bands will perform and normally we just let it go.”
Bob Vylan have since said that the criticism would “have you believe a punk band is the number one threat to world peace”.
“We are not the story,” said Bob Vylan, “we are a distraction from the story and whatever santions we receive will be a distraction.
“The Government doesn’t want us to ask why they remain silent in the fact of this atrocity.”
Bob Vylan added that they are “being targeted for speaking up, we are not the first, we will not be the last.”
Silence is not an option. pic.twitter.com/i5ubnDntUo
— Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) July 1, 2025
The BBC has faced strong criticism for continuing to livestream with on-screen warnings about “very strong and discriminatory language”, leading to the UK’s broadcasting regulator Ofcom to say it was “very concerned” by the decision.
The BBC said it “respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence”.
The broadcaster added that Bob Vylan “expressed antisemitic sentiments” which were “utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves”.
The BBC added in its statement that a “judgment on Saturday to issue a warning on screen while streaming online was in line with our editorial guidelines”.
The broadcaster said that its team were dealing with a “live situation” but that “with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance”.
It also decided to make the performance unavailable on demand, where programmes can be watched after the live broadcast has ended.
However, Bob Vylan’s performance remained available on demand for around five hours.
The front page of this morning’s Daily Express claimed that Davie “has to act now or resign”.
The Times meanwhile had a front page story criticising Davie for not pulling the livestream following Bob Vylan’s “death to the IDF” chant.
The Daily Telegraph also devoted its front page to condemnation of Davie.
A BBC spokesperson said Davie was informed of the incident after the performance and “at that point he was clear it should not feature in any other Glastonbury coverage”.
A source told The Daily Telegraph that Davie was “made aware of what was going on, shortly after it aired” and that he “made sure to intervene and said that the performance should not be available on-demand”.
However, it remained on-demand on the BBC iPlayer for around five hours afterwards.
A BBC insider told The Daily Telegraph however that “it isn’t as straightforward as hitting a button” and making the livestream disappear.
And while the most senior person in charge of the Bob Vylan live stream would have had the power to cut away from the performance, an insider remarked that the chant “happened in a flash and then was gone”.
The insider added that cutting the live feed would have meant viewers would not see any of the later acts on the West Holts stage.
Elsewhere, Telegraph columnist Jake Wallis Simons today penned an article in which he said “Davie must surely fall on his sword now”.
He accused Davie of “lying low in the hope that the storm will pass” and that “his fingerprints are all over it”.
Sharren Haskel is an Israeli politician who currently serves as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Haskel said: “If there’s no one that will take responsibility, if no one will be fired over such an outrageous thing, then I think that Tim Davie should take responsibility because there has to be accountability for that.”
Haskel also claimed that there should be an investigation into the BBC’s coverage of the Middle East.
“It was fully biased,” Haskel told The Daily Telegraph.
“Many mistakes were made, not just in the coverage since 7 October, but their coverage in the Middle East in general and also about how they address anti-Semitism in the UK.”
Elsewhere, the UK’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said that the “BBC’s belated and mishandled response brings confidence in our national broadcaster’s ability to treat anti-Semitism seriously to a new low”.
This is a time of national shame. The airing of vile Jew-hatred at Glastonbury and the BBC’s belated and mishandled response, brings confidence in our national broadcaster’s ability to treat antisemitism seriously to a new low.
— Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) June 30, 2025
It should trouble all decent people that now, one…
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