Bob Vylan removed from festivals in Manchester and France amid Glastonbury controversy
Music festivals in Manchester and France have removed Bob Vylan from their line-ups following their controversial appearance at the Glastonbury Festival.
The punk duo performed on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury on June 28th, and led the crowd through a chant of “Death to the IDF”, in reference to the Israel Defence Forces. Bob Vylan also chanted “Free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea”.
Glastonbury immediately distanced itself from Bob Vylan. In a statement, they condemned the band, writing, “We are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday. Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the Festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.”
Meanwhile, the BBC also criticised the band, writing, “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 broadcaster then apologised for not cutting the stream on iPlayer following the comments, adding, “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”. They have since removed the performance from iPlayer.
Now, Bob Vylan have been removed from the line-up of Manchester’s Radar Festival, who said in a statement: “Bob Vylan will not be appearing at RADAR Festival this weekend.”
Radar Festival is set to take place at Victoria Warehouse in Manchester between July 4th and July 6th, with a new headliner set to be announced in due course for July 5th.
Meanwhile, Kave Fest in France have confirmed they will no longer host Bob Vylan and a venue in Cologne will no longer let the band support Gogol Bordello in September.
It comes after Bob Vylan had their US visas revoked, which will prevent them from hitting the road with Grandson later this year. They have also been dropped by talent agency UTA.
In response to the backlash, Bob Vylan said: “We are being targeted for speaking up. We are not the first. We will not be the last. And if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up, too”
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