The BBC has partially upheld complaints against its live broadcast of punk-rap duo Bob Vylan’s performance at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival, ruling that parts of the set were antisemitic and breached its guidelines on harm and offence. The decision by the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) reignites a furious debate over artistic freedom, hate speech, and the responsibilities of a public broadcaster in a politically charged world.
During the controversial set at Glastonbury, frontman Bob Vylan led the crowd in chants including “death, death to the IDF“, along with slogans like “Free Palestine“ and “From the river to the sea.“ The incident sent shockwaves through political circles and drew swift condemnation. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the chants as “appalling hate speech” and demanded an explanation from the BBC. At the same time, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy highlighted a “problem of leadership” within the corporation. The Israeli Embassy described the rhetoric as “deeply disturbing.”
For Bob Vylan, the repercussions were significant. Avon and Somerset Police launched a criminal investigation into the comments, exploring potential hate crime legislation. The band also faced professional setbacks, including the revocation of US visas and the cancellation of European shows.
The ECU determined that some of these chants could be “fairly characterised as antisemitic” when viewed in total context, particularly remarks targeting record executives described as “Zionists.” However, the ECU found no breach of the BBC’s rules on material likely to encourage or incite crime. It reasoned that the performance was not news coverage but part of a music festival broadcast, and thus subject to more tolerance for expressive content. In the immediate aftermath, the BBC removed the footage from its on-demand services, with Director-General Tim Davie expressing deep regret and Chairman Samir Shah calling it “unquestionably an error of judgment.”
The BBC has ruled that Bob Vylan’s chant of “Death, death to the IDF” and antisemitic slurs at Glastonbury broke its rules on harm and offence — but ludicrously decided that this was not incitement to violence. This absurd decision is yet another an insult to British Jews from… pic.twitter.com/Yaq6BYfipg — Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) September 26, 2025
This ruling highlights a fundamental challenge for the BBC. While the ECU’s distinction is based on a traditional media framework, the public and political responses to the incident demonstrate that this separation is no longer tenable. In a digital environment where live streams coexist with news content, the public does not make the same genre-based distinctions. The BBC’s own reactive policy change to drop ‘high risk’ live streams is a tacit admission that its impartiality policy is in question.
The BBC’s decision to partly uphold complaints over Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance is more than a verdict on one band’s set. It is a signal that the space between protest art and broadcast responsibility is narrowing under public scrutiny. As artists continue to push against political and cultural boundaries, and as audiences demand both accountability and authenticity, broadcasters will face mounting pressure to rethink how they handle moments like this in the future, as they continue to operate in an increasingly polarised time.
