Bob Vylan claim they are being ‘targeted' for speaking up about Palestine
The BBC apologised after the set at the West Holts Stage was livestreamed, saying on Monday describing the chants were 'antisemitic sentiments' that were 'unacceptable'.
Bobby Vylan, one half of the British duo, also led his audience in chants that included 'Free, free Palestine'.
Posting a statement on Instagram on Tuesday, captioned 'Silence is not an option', the group said: 'Today, a good many people would have you believe a punk band is the number one threat to world peace.
'Last week it was a Palestine pressure group. The week before that it was another band.
'We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people.
'We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine. A machine whose own soldiers were told to use 'unnecessary lethal force' against innocent civilians waiting for aid.
'A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.'
The statement added: 'We, like those in the spotlight before us, are not the story.
'We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction.
'The Government doesn't want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity? To ask why they aren't doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?
Bobby Vylan crowd-surfs during his performance on the West Holts Stage (Yui Mok/PA)
'The more time they talk about Bob Vylan the less time they spend answering for their criminal inaction.
'We are being targeted for speaking up. We are not the first, we will not be the last, and if you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up too.'
Bobby Vylan is the stage name of Pascal Robinson-Foster, 34, according to reports, while his bandmate drummer uses the alias Bobbie Vylan.
The group was formed in Ipswich in 2017, and are known for addressing political issues in their albums including racism, masculinity and class.
On Monday, Avon and Somerset Police said it had launched a probe into the performance after reviewing video footage and audio recordings, with a senior detective appointed to lead the investigation.
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BBC News
8 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Vietnam was insane, Apocalypse Now only slightly less so': The inside story of the wildest shoot in film history
No production has been as troubled as the 1979 war epic. As behind-the-scenes documentary Hearts of Darkness is re-released, its director, and two of those who were on set, reveal all. "The way we made it was very much like the way the Americans were in Vietnam," explained Francis Ford Coppola, after the Cannes Film Festival screening of Apocalypse Now in 1979. "We were in the jungle. There were too many of us. We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and, little by little, we went insane." While the troubled production of Coppola's epic, brutal, psychedelic war film had been well documented in the press while it was being made – from finance issues to actors being re-cast, and health problems to extreme weather – it would not be until 1991 that the true extent of the chaos would become clear via Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. The documentary was assembled from extensive footage that Coppola's wife Eleanor shot while on set, depicting a film production that while breathtaking in scope, ambition and vision, was equally messy, drug-addled, and riddled with seemingly insurmountable setbacks. Fax Bahr and the late George Hickenlooper were the two young directors tasked with combing through reel after reel to piece together the madness and tell the gripping story of the film's making. Now that film, having undergone a 4K restoration, is back in US and UK cinemas from this weekend. Bahr still recalls the first day he saw Coppola's footage, which had been sitting, largely untouched, for over a decade. "Some of the reports had been, 'Oh, there's a lot of out-of-focus stuff,'" he tells the BBC. "But the reels we looked at were extraordinary. Just beautiful footage. Clearly, she had been copiously recording everything that was happening. It was absolute gold." The long list of troubles Apocalypse Now, loosely based on the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, is considered one of the greatest works in cinematic history. However, it nearly fell apart at various stages. With filming starting in the Philippines in March 1976, it was initially set to be a five-month shoot – but in the end would last over a year. Coppola fired his leading man, Harvey Keitel, a few weeks in, and replaced him with Martin Sheen, who then suffered a near-fatal heart attack on location. Expensive sets were totally destroyed by a typhoon, and some actors were infected with hookworm parasites, while others leaned into heavy partying and drug-taking on set. Then Marlon Brando, who was playing the AWOL Colonel Kurtz, showed up on set heavily overweight and completely unprepared, which forced Coppola to re-write and shoot the ending of the film to suit him. As time went on, the film was so drastically over budget that Coppola took on the role of financing it himself, which would have ruined him had it not made its money back. According to Eleanor Coppola's book, Notes, even after the shoot had wrapped, during post-production, Coppola only gave himself a 20% likelihood that he could pull out a credible film from the wreckage. The documentary paints a picture of a production that sets out to recreate the Vietnam war and, in many ways, ends up mirroring many of the same patterns of behaviour that took place among soldiers. One person suitably placed to make such a comparison is Chas Gerretsen, the Dutch war photographer and photojournalist who was brought onto the set for six months (the results were collected in the 2021 book Apocalypse Now: The Lost Photo Archive.) "Vietnam was insane, Apocalypse Now only slightly less so," Gerretsen tells the BBC. The harsh conditions were totally alien to most people there. "The crew complained a lot about the heat, humidity, hotel rooms, bugs, mosquitoes," he says. "The mud – sometimes knee-deep – was a real challenge." Damien Leake, who played a machine gunner in the film, was on set for three weeks and similarly remembers the physical as being unlike anything he had encountered. "The first thing I remember is getting off the plane and the humidity hits you like a wet mop," he tells the BBC. "Having been from New York, I know humidity, but this was unbelievable." The water was not safe to drink, geckos climbed the walls of the hut he stayed in, and the weather was biblical. "Every day it would rain," he says. "It would rain like it was mad at you. It would rain sheets like I had never seen before." As the production dragged on, it became tough for the cast and crew, who started to miss life back home. "They were pretty much like the soldiers in Vietnam, who had never been further away from home than Canada," recalls Gerretsen. "There was a lot of homesickness. One member of the crew went nearly every weekend to Manila – a three-to-four-hour trip, each way, over a bad road – and rented a hotel room overlooking the airport, just watching planes take off for the USA." Coppola's vision was crumbling more and more as time went on. In particular, he couldn't nail the ending of the film which, to this day, varies in several different edits and versions of the film. "I call this whole movie the Idiodyssey," Coppola said at the time, as recorded in Hearts of Darkness. "None of my tools, none of my tricks, none of my ways of doing things works for this ending. I have tried so many times that I know I can't do it. It might be a big victory to know that I can't do it. I can't write the ending to this movie." However, his cast seemingly stayed loyal and committed. "Actors would walk through fire for Francis," says Leake, "because he gives them such leeway and such a sense of them being able to make this [scene/character] their own. Then he then shapes it into what he wants. You can't ask for more than that." While homesickness plagued many, Leake had a different experience. He calls his time on the shoot "the most glorious three weeks of my life. I would go hang out with Filipino people, which I adored. I thought they were wonderful. I fell in love with a beautiful girl and if I had had a bigger part in the film, I'd probably still be there. I loved it that much." Telling the behind-the-scenes story Once Bahr began to work through all the footage, it was only then that it sunk in just how miraculous it was that this film existed at all. "I knew that it was an extremely challenging film to pull off, but until you get into the nitty gritty of the footage, you couldn't really understand the horrendous obstacles that they kept facing." As such, the task Bahr had in telling the story behind the story was a challenge itself, requiring him to dig through around 80 hours of footage. "The first cut of the documentary was four and a half hours," he explains. "Because Ellie (Coppola) kept shooting after the production was over, we had a whole post-production section [in the original cut]." And of course, there was plenty of drama during that process, even when Coppola and his team were out of the jungle and back in the comfort of a studio. "One of the editors absconded with the print and holed up in a hotel room," Bahr recalls. "Nobody could find him and they thought that the whole thing was stolen. Then he would send back burned celluloid in envelopes saying, 'I'm getting rid of the film, scene by scene'. They were just freaking out." Thankfully, the creative differences that had caused the rift and theft were resolved before any serious damage was done. Bahr recalls the moment when he knew that the documentary had uncovered something foundational. "The discovery of the audio tapes that Ellie made of Francis was revelatory," he says of the audio recordings that play out over scenes in the film. "Ellie was the only person on Earth who was capable of capturing Francis like that – up close and personal. This was putting you right here with an American master in his most private moments and it was a real glimpse into the very centre of creativity: its doubt, worry, angst, and working out these ideas. That was incredibly special." Coppola gave Bahr and Hickenlooper his blessing to do what they wanted with the footage. His only instruction was: be honest. "He said, 'There's some ugly things that happened here, but as long as you tell the story honestly, I'll support it.'" The only request he made was that the narration, which had been done by a voice actor, was re-recorded by his wife, given that the material was hers and, in many ways, this was a story seen through her eyes. It was a final masterstroke move that made the documentary feel like even more of a raw insider's look at the film shoot. More like this:• How Brokeback Mountain challenged Hollywood• Full Metal Jacket and the ultimate anti-war films• 10 of the best films to watch this July "The nicest thing that anyone says to me about the documentary is that it's a necessary accessory to understanding Apocalypse Now," says Bahr. "People say, 'Well, I saw Apocalypse Now and loved it, but after I saw your documentary, I understood it in a more comprehensive way.' That's the highest compliment possible." For Bahr, Apocalypse Now exists as a total one-off. "It was such a unique film in film-making history," he says. "I don't think anybody will ever be able to do anything like that again. Not just because Francis was willing to stake his whole fortune on it, but also just because of the ambition. I mean, he intended to go to the Philippines and recreate Vietnam for the crew and have everybody in the company go through that experience. It was such a brilliant vision." For Gerretsen, his experiences have become almost impossible to distinguish from his memories of actual war zones. "The explosions, the coloured smoke, the hours of waiting for the scene to be set up – everything is mixed," he says. When he did watch the finished film, its impact was significant. "It was incredible in the way it brought it all back. It was a masterpiece, no doubt, but it would be several years before I could watch it again. Both the Vietnam and Cambodian wars, and Apocalypse Now, continue to be with me because the insanity of war is still with us." Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse is in UK cinemas from 4 July, and will play at New York's Film Forum from 4 July, and other US cinemas nationally from 18 July. A 4k Blu-ray collector's edition will be available to buy in the UK from 28 July. -- If you liked this story sign up for The Essential List newsletter, a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week. For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
The Sun
15 minutes ago
- The Sun
EastEnders fans stunned after spotting huge show star in another popular drama
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Scottish Sun
15 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
EastEnders fans stunned after spotting huge show star in another popular drama
The unexpected cameo from a 2021 repeat didn't go unnoticed Plot Twist EastEnders fans stunned after spotting huge show star in another popular drama EASTENDERS fans have been left stunned after spotting a huge show star in another popular drama. ITV viewers couldn't believe their eyes after noticing that Harriet Thorpe, 68, who plays Elaine Peacock in the BBC soap, popped up in none other than Midsomer Murders. 3 EastEnders fans have been left stunned after spotting Harriet Thorpe in another popular drama Credit: BBC The unexpected cameo from a 2021 repeat didn't go unnoticed. On Reddit, one user wrote: "Ar [sic] Elaine in Midsomer Murders," sharing a photo of the star wearing a floral kaftan and colourful necklace. Another quipped: "It seems she has a consistent costume department." Harriet is well-known to EastEnders viewers as Elaine Peacock - Queen Victoria's feisty landlady. She took on the role in 2023 , but her credits stretch much further back, including appearances in Wicked, Absolutely Fabulous, The Brittas Empire, and of course, Midsomer Murders. In fact, Thorpe appeared in the hit series twice - once in 2006's Dance with the Dead and later in 2021's The Stitcher Society - well before she arrived at the Queen Vic. Last year, The Sun revealed some exclusive photos of Elaine marrying her on-screen husband, George Knight, played by Colin Salmon. Soap bosses filmed the dramatic wedding episodes of the long-awaited nuptials. A huge swathe of the BBC soap's cast turned out to a church in Bushey near the studios to film the big soap wedding of the year. Elaine actress Harriet Thorpe looked stunning in the landlady's shimmering gold wedding gown. EastEnders star looks unrecognisable in classic comedy Absolutely Fabulous Elaine's intended, George Knight actor Colin Salmon wore a sand coloured suit matching with his best man Johnny Carter. Anna and Gina Knight stars Francesca Henry and Molly Rainford were also filming in dark green bridesmaid gowns. While their on-screen mum, Cindy Beale star Michelle Collins also attended in full funeral black alongside Ian Beale actor Adam Woodyatt. A source said at the time: 'The BBC have clearly pushed the boat out for the wedding. 'These days its unheard of for even the big soap weddings to have large amounts of the cast filming on location but bosses have made it work.' 3 She popped up in none other than Midsomer Murders Credit: Reddit
