Bob Vylan DROPPED by major talent agency after ‘death to IDF’ chant at Glastonbury
United Talent Agency has dropped punk duo Bob Vylan following their controversial performance at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday, where they led chants of “death to the IDF” from the West Holts stage.
The agency acted swiftly after senior executives held urgent discussions over the weekend, according to industry sources.
The band’s page has been removed from UTA’s website, though the agency declined to comment on the decision.
The performance has dominated UK headlines after frontman Bobby Vylan made the inflammatory remarks and platformed the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine must be, will be, free” during the BBC’s live stream of their set.
The duo’s Saturday performance included Bobby Vylan complaining about working for a “f***ing Zionist,” alongside the chants that festival organisers said “crossed a line.”
Their set also featured a large message on screen reading: “Free Palestine. United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a ‘conflict’.”
The BBC streamed the controversial set live on iPlayer, a decision the broadcaster later said it regretted.
In a statement released on Monday, the BBC said: “The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves.”
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The corporation acknowledged that “with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance,” adding: “We regret this did not happen.”
Glastonbury chief Emily Eavis condemned the performance in a statement: “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.”
The BBC faced heavy criticism for broadcasting the set, including from Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The corporation stated it “respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence.”
Some have called for BBC executives to face prosecution over the broadcast.
Bobby Vylan defended his actions on Instagram, saying his phone was “buzzing non-stop” with messages of “support and hatred” after the performance. In a post captioned, “I said what I said,” he appeared to stand by his stage comments.
He wrote that it was important to teach children to campaign for the “right thing,” adding: “Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered.”
The BBC’s coverage issues extended beyond Bob Vylan, as Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap were not shown live over separate hate speech concerns.