Glastonbury Festival is under fire after performers made politically charged remarks on stage. Photo/X.
Glastonbury Festival is facing widespread criticism after politically charged remarks were made by performers at this year’s event. Police in southwest England have launched a formal review after the controversy snowballed receiving online backlash.
Rap-punk duo Bob Vylan and Irish-language hip hop trio Kneecap led large crowds in politically charged chants on the West Holts Stage.
Bob Vylan’s frontman, Bobby Vylan, while addressing the audience during the festival raised slogans of “Free, free Palestine.” Vylan then followed by a more contentious statement wishing death to the Israel Defense Forces.
“Alright, but have you heard this one though? Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces),” Vylan shouted.
The stage backdrop for the duo carried a message reading, “United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a ‘conflict’.”
The local police said that they are reviewing the online videos and investigation is on to establish if any criminal offences were committed.
The Israeli Embassy in the UK has condemned the slogans that were raised during the festival.
IDF shared a statement on social media, saying it was “deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival.”
The embassy said that such language risks “normalising extremist language and the glorification of violence.”
The embassy urged festival organisers, artists, and UK leaders to reject all forms of hatred and incitement.
UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting also condemned the slogans raised at the Glastonbury festival calling them “appalling.” He pressed for holding Glastonbury organisers and the BBC accountable for airing the libe performance.
Streeting however criticized Israel for the Gaza crisis and urged Israeli embassy to “the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank.”
The BBC, which has the live broadcasting rights for Glastonbury festival, came under fire for live-streaming Bob Vylan’s perfomance.
BBC defended itself by saying that it had issued an on-screen warning about “very strong and discriminatory language” during the performance. The broadcaster later decided not to make the controversial perfomance available on its iPlayer platform.
Irish-language hip hop trio Kneecap, who performed on the same day and stage also stirred the controversy for speaking about the West Asia.
Even UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said befor the start of festival that it was “not appropriate” for them to perform.
Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who is known as Mo Chara, was last month charged under the UK Terrorism Act following an incident at a London concert in November 2024. He allegedly displayed a Hezbollah flag, a proscribed terrorist symbol in the UK.
Glastonbury Festival organisers have issued a statement condemning the on-stage comments saying ther is no place for antisemitism at the festival.
“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,” they said.
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
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