Campaign Against Antisemitism has uncovered footage in which a member of the rap duo Bob Vylan is heard saying to the crowd: “How do you lot feel about the police? The only good pig is a dead pig.”
It is understood that the incident occurred at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool in August 2023.
Last weekend, the duo made headlines after it led a chant of “Death to the IDF” during its performance at Glastonbury Festival.
Footage from Glastonbury Festival also shows a member of the duo addressing the audience: “We’ve done it all. From working in bars to working for f***ing Zionists.”
Eight in ten British Jews consider themselves to be Zionists; only 6% do not, according to our representative polling.
Footage also showed chanting of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” during the performance.
The genocidal chant ‘From the River to the Sea’, which is regularly heard at anti-Israel protests, refers to the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, and, whether intended or not, is widely understood to represent a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state – and its replacement with a Palestinian state. It is reasonably interpreted to be a call for the annihilation of half the world’s Jews, who live in Israel. Our representative polling shows that 95% of British Jews consider the chant ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free’ to be an antisemitic call to destroy the Jewish state. Only 2% do not.
The group was performing as the supporting act for Kneecap, whose member, Liam O’Hanna, has been charged with displaying a flag in support of Hizballah, a proscribed terrorist organisation, at a concert at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town on 21st November last year. Footage of the concert in question appeared to show a member of the band, draped in a Hizballah flag, shouting to the crowd, “Up Hamas, up Hizballah.”
Several venues, including Eden Sessions and Plymouth Pavilions, dropped Kneecap from scheduled performances earlier this year, following calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism. We also wrote to Glastonbury Festival, calling for it to drop Kneecap from its line-up, but organisers did not respond.
During Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury, one of its members said that fans should start a “riot” at Mr O’Hanna’s upcoming court hearing.
It is understood that Avon and Somerset Police, in whose jurisdiction the Glastonbury Festival takes place, is investigating footage of both Kneecap and Bob Vylan from the festival.
Bob Vylan has reportedly been dropped by UTA, its management agency, and US visas for an upcoming concert have reportedly been revoked.
The BBC faced damning public backlash – making headlines in the The Times, the MailOnline and The Guardian – after it broadcast both Bob Vylan’s chanting and published Kneecap’s performance on BBC iPlayer, its online streaming service.
The BBC said in a statement yesterday: “We fully understand the strength of feeling regarding Bob Vylan’s live appearance at Glastonbury on the BBC. We deeply regret that such offensive and deplorable behaviour appeared on the BBC and want to apologise to our viewers and listeners and in particular the Jewish community. We are also unequivocal that there can be no place for antisemitism at, or on, the BBC.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism has called for Jewish attendees at Glastonbury to contact us at [email protected].
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Before they were calling for ‘Death to the IDF,’ we can reveal that Bob Vylan were insulting police officers and extolling ‘dead pigs’. Calling for the death of people you dislike isn’t art: it’s cheap and dangerous. It should carry consequences. We have alerted police in Lancashire and Somerset, who are already investigating the Glastonbury performance.”
