Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has accused the BBC of a “problem of leadership” following Bob Vylan‘s Glastonbury 2025 performance.
During Bob Vylan’s set on the West Holts stage, the rap-punk duo voiced their support for Palestine, with frontman Bobby Vylan instigating a chant of “free, free Palestine”, before saying, “Have you heard this one?”, and leading a chant of “death, death to the IDF”.
It directly preceded Kneecap‘s highly-awaited set, which the BBC had confirmed just a couple of hours before would not be streamed live on iPlayer, though Bob Vylan’s performance was. Since the set, the BBC have said they should have pulled live coverage of the group’s Glastonbury 2025 set, while Ofcom say they’re treating it “as a matter of urgency”.
Now, the Culture Secretary has weighed in, saying “several” editorial failures “becomes a problem of leadership”, during a statement to the Commons on Monday (June 30)
Nandy said the Government is “exasperated” with the “lack of account from the leadership”, and that “problems with broadcasts” at the festival “should have been foreseeable”, per the Independent.
“When you have one editorial failure, it’s something that must be gripped. When you have several, it becomes a problem of leadership,” she told the Commons.
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When asked by Jim Allister, TUV MP for North Antrim if the Government would consider cutting the BBC licence fee, Nandy replied that the government “supports the BBC” and believes “it is an important institution”.
“That is why we are so disappointed that this has happened, why we have been so exasperated with the lack of account from the leadership, not just about this, but about a previous Gaza documentary and a number of other issues as well. The BBC is one of the most important institutions in our country, and that is the reason why it is held to the highest of standards.”
NME has reached out to the BBC for comment.
Last night (June 30), news broke that Bob Vylan and Kneecap are now formally under criminal investigation following their back-to-back sets at Glastonbury this past weekend. Bob Vylan have also had their US visas revoked – they were due to open for Grandson across a US tour later this year.
Additionally, Bob Vylan have reportedly been dropped by their agent United Talent Agency (UTA) following the controversy. While the UTA has not acknowledged the alleged severing of ties, Bob Vylan’s pages on their artists’ sites have been removed.
Elsewhere during their Glastonbury performance, frontman Bobby said: “We are not pacifist punks here over at Bob Vylan Enterprises,” referencing lyrics from their 2023 single ‘Censored (Interlude)’. “We are the violent punks, because sometimes you gotta get your message across with violence because that is the only language some people speak, unfortunately.” See a full recap here.
Following the duo’s performance at Glastonbury 2025, the festival issued a statement saying it was “appalled” by their “death to the IDF” chants, adding: “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.” Cabinet minister Wes Streeting has also criticised the performance, while also telling the Israeli embassy to “get its own house in order”.
On Sunday (June 29), Bobby Vylan addressed the incident, confirming he stands by what he said. Bobby continued: “Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place. As we grow older and our fire possibly starts to dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us.”
This isn’t the first time that Bob Vylan have spoken out against “controversial” topics, including racism and police brutality in the UK. Speaking to NME back in 2020, the duo shared that they’ve been calling for justice on a myriad of topics for a long time: “Why did it take this long? We have not been quiet about this, we have been screaming about this. Us, as black punks, quite literally. I’ve been screaming about this at the top of my lungs.”
Multiple artists have voiced their support for the punk duo, including Amyl & The Sniffers, Lambrini Girls, Soft Play, and Grandson, who they were due to support on a US tour prior to their visas being revoked.
Israel has been carrying out a full-scale military campaign on occupied Gaza for almost two years, since the October 2023 attack by Hamas at the Israeli music festival Supernova where 1,195 people were killed.
The UN has found Israel’s military actions to be consistent with genocide, and at least 56,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel has continually denied that what’s going on in Palestine is considered a genocide, and has argued that it has not partaken in any war crimes.
