The BBC Director-General was personally consulted after a rap duo chanted “death, death to the IDF” during a Glastonbury performance, The Telegraph has reported.
Tim Davie, who was visiting staff at the festival on Saturday, was made aware of the outburst shortly after it happened. He decided that the performance by Bob Vylan should not be made available on demand. However, the clip remained accessible via BBC iPlayer’s rewind function for another five hours.
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Although pulling the live broadcast was not considered at the time, a BBC spokesman later admitted that the corporation now regrets not doing so.
A BBC source said: “Tim was there for a few hours to see the team. He was made aware during the time he was there of what had been said on stage. He intervened to make sure the performance was not made available on demand and he was very clear about that.
“Pulling the livestream brings certain technological challenges. With hindsight, we would have taken it down. He would have asked what the options were, but it isn’t as straightforward as hitting a button and taking it down.”
The BBC has been approached by the Express for a comment.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the incident raised serious questions about Mr Davie’s leadership.
Speaking in the House of Commons, she said: “When you have one editorial failure, it’s something that must be gripped. When you have several, it becomes a problem of leadership.”
Frontman Pascal Robinson-Foster, known as Bobby Vylan, also launched into a tirade about a Jewish re (Image: Getty)
Her comments followed a pointed question from Peter Prinsley MP, who said: “The murder of hundreds of Jews at the Nova music festival in October 2023 sparked this war. The irony of broadcast anti-Semitism at Glastonbury here in the UK is not lost on any of us.
“So how are Jews, such as myself, in this country to be reassured about the editorial processes of the BBC? And who on Earth will be held accountable for this error?”
Ms Nandy replied that accountability was “an extremely important point” and said it was “something that I’ve impressed upon the BBC leadership.”
The row adds to a growing list of anti-Semitism controversies surrounding the BBC. The broadcaster had earlier been forced to apologise over “serious flaws” in a Gaza documentary which failed to mention that the narrator was the son of a Hamas official. Its wider Israel-Gaza coverage has also come under fire.
Earlier this week, Israel’s deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel said Mr Davie should resign if no one is sacked over the incident. Speaking to The Telegraph’s Daily T podcast, she called for an investigation into why the BBC took so long to remove the content.
During the controversial Glastonbury set, Bob Vylan led the crowd in chanting “Free! Free!” followed by audience members shouting “Palestine!” before the rapper added: “death, death to the IDF.”
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Frontman Pascal Robinson-Foster, known as Bobby Vylan, also launched into a tirade about a Jewish record executive he had previously worked with.
While the set was blocked from BBC iPlayer’s on-demand library, viewers could still rewind and access it via the live stream for hours after the performance.
The BBC has since apologised, saying the remarks were “utterly unacceptable” and “have no place on our airwaves”.
“We welcome Glastonbury’s condemnation of the performance,” the broadcaster added.
Speaking to the Daily T, Ms Haskel said: “Who’s responsible for that? This is literally someone calling for violence, for ethnic cleansing, for the destruction and the annihilation of the only Jewish state in the world.
“So if there’s no one that will take responsibility, if no one will be fired over such an outrageous thing, then I think that Tim Davie should take responsibility because there has to be accountability for that.”
When asked if she believed Mr Davie should resign, she said: “If there’s no one responsible for that, and if no one’s going to be fired over such an outrageous thing, Tim Davie should take responsibility and resign.”
She also demanded a full inquiry into how the BBC covers the Middle East, adding: “There should be an inquiry regarding the BBC coverage.
“It was fully biased. Many mistakes were made. Not just in the coverage since Oct 7, but their coverage in the Middle East in general and also about how they address anti-Semitism in the UK. How is it possible that something like that has been normalised in the UK? I just don’t get it.”
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