Bob Vylan launch attack on Reform UK and Israeli government at Boardmasters
Bob Vylan launched a verbal attack on Reform UK and the Israeli government during their performance at Boardmasters festival in Cornwall on August 10th.
The punk rap duo began their set by taking aim at Nigel Farage’s party, the war in Gaza, as well as a range of other issues, including the Westminster government’s policies and Zionism.
It comes after a group of political figures campaigned to have the band axed from their set at Boardmasters, following their controversial performance at Glastonbury in June, which local police are currently investigating after they led a chant of “Death to the IDF.”
Subsequently, with Boardmasters not bowing to this pressure and allowing the duo to perform, they took to the stage and addressed the controversy upfront in an explicit rant.
Rapper Bobby Vylan told the audience (per Devon Live): “You know they didn’t want us here, right? Reform UK didn’t want us here with you, Boardmasters. But fuck Reform and here we are. It was a little bit of a battle to get here,” he said, before adding, “Some of your local MPs didn’t want us here. Some Zionist lobby groups didn’t want us here.”
The band went on to claim that this was because they “speak the truth”, then continuing: “Because we dare to take this stage and say, ‘Fuck England and its terrible foreign policy’. Because we dare to say, ‘Fuck the Israeli Government and the atrocity, and their crimes of genocide that they are committing’ and because we dare to say ‘Free Free Palestine’.”
Leading the crowd in support of Palestine, Bob Vylan have attracted some controversy within their own fanbase for performing at the festival in the first place, as there had been boycott calls over its sponsorship from the company KKR, which has investments in Israeli arms production.
The band responded to this by saying they would “take the blood money” but donate their fee to Palestinian aid charities.
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