BBC staff ‘ashamed' over Glastonbury ‘death to IDF' chants

Times

13 hours ago

Last week Tim Davie, the director-general of the BBC, emailed all staff announcing new editorial guidelines which would, among other things, prevent the broadcaster from screening 'hate speech'.
Days later, staff were dismayed as chants calling for the deaths of Israeli soldiers were broadcast live on BBC iPlayer as part of the corporation's Glastonbury coverage.
The incident has plunged the organisation into another crisis, with insiders telling The Times they felt 'ashamed', and led to an intervention by Sir Keir Starmer, who has demanded to know how the scenes were allowed to air.
The prime minister said: 'There is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech. The BBC needs to explain how these scenes came to be broadcast.'
Davie emailed staff on Tuesday, telling them that the new guidelines would 'set the editorial values and standards for all BBC output'.
It was the first time the guidelines have been changed since 2019. In that period the corporation has faced criticism for controversies including a Gaza documentary that had to be pulled after it emerged it was narrated by the teenage son of a Hamas official.
The updated guidelines state: 'Material that contains hate speech should not be included in output unless it is justified by the context.'
They added that broadcasting hate speech could constitute a criminal offence 'if it is intended or likely to stir up hatred relating to race, or intended to stir up hatred relating to religious belief'.
However, viewers of Saturday's Glastonbury coverage would have seen Bobby Vylan, the singer of the punk group Bob Vylan, leading thousands of people in chants on the festival's West Holts Stage.
Vylan, 34, from Ipswich, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, urged the crowd to repeat 'Free, free Palestine' and 'Death, death to the IDF' (Israel Defence Force). He also told the crowd 'from the river to the sea Palestine … will be free, inshallah'.
The singer delivered a monologue describing working at a record label for someone who supported Israel and describing him as a 'f***ing Zionist'.
BBC staff have questioned how the performance — which has been condemned by Jewish groups — was not only broadcast live but also remained available on iPlayer for more than five hours.
One insider said that Saturday's scenes were particularly galling as the BBC had won an Emmy only last week for a documentary about the massacre at the Nova music festival during the October 7 attacks in Israel.
One BBC staffer said: 'There is no excuse for it being live. It takes a second to cut a feed. The guy was allowed to continue for more than 20 minutes and he was loving that he was live on the BBC.
'He kept reminding the crowd. As soon as he started to tell them how he had had to work for a 'f***ing Zionist' they should have cut him off.
'And now they say it wasn't available to watch on demand but the whole unfiltered show sat on iPlayer for anyone to watch for more than five hours.'
Another added: 'This Glastonbury debacle has crossed a line. News coverage will always raise difficult questions and tackle difficult subjects but this was entirely unnecessary and avoidable. The BBC should have been alert to this risk and the live feed should have been cut within seconds.'
The Bobby Vylan performance was the last before the Belfast rap trio Kneecap took to the stage. The BBC decided not to screen Kneecap's show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, was charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying the flag of Hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist organisation, at a gig last year. He has denied the charge. Instead, it broadcast highlights of their performance. Starmer said the band should not be given a platform 'and that goes for any other performers making threats or inciting violence'.
Subsequently it was announced on Sunday that the Metropolitan Police had decided not to prosecute members of Kneecap over comments allegedly calling for Conservative MPs to be killed, made at a concert in November 2023.
Glastonbury Festival issued a statement saying the organisers were 'appalled' at the statements made by Bob Vylan. 'Their chants very much crossed a line,' it said. 'There is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.'
Lord Walney, the former government anti-extremism adviser, added his voice to criticism of the BBC. 'After all the furore over Kneecap, it is incredible that they allowed the 'death to the IDF' and 'from the river to the sea' chants to be broadcast from the Bob Vylan set without immediately pulling the feed,' he said.
'There is no excuse for this dereliction of duty by our national broadcaster. Tim Davie must immediately get a grip of this crisis or he is going to face serious calls to step down.'
A BBC spokeswoman said: 'Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan's set were deeply offensive. During this livestream on iPlayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and discriminatory language. We have no plans to make the performance available on demand.'