Latest news with #JimBerk
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Simon Wiesenthal Center Slams Glastonbury's 'Bland Response' To Bob Vylan's 'Death To The IDF' Chant
Although Glastonbury and the BBC have condemned Bob Vylan's onstage comments at the England music festival, at least one Jewish human rights organization is not satisfied with the response. Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called out both the festival and the network for providing a platform for the 'disgraceful' performance, in which Vylan led the crowd in chants of 'death to the IDF' and 'free Palestine.' More from Deadline Glastonbury Officials 'Appalled' By Bob Vylan's Anti-Israel 'Hate Speech' Chant From Stage BBC Slams 'Deeply Offensive' Glastonbury Set: 'We Have No Plans To Make It Available On Demand' BBC Avoids Kneecap But Live Streams Another Act Leading Crowd Chants Of "Death To The IDF" & "Free Palestine" 'It was sickening, dangerous and chillingly reminiscent of a modern-day Nazi rally,' said Berk, adding: 'It was public incitement, not performance. The explicit calls for violence against Jews, broadcast live by the BBC without interruption, literally gave hate a stage, a microphone, and the stamp of legitimacy of one of Britain's most respected public institutions.' Berk continued, 'And Glastonbury's bland response? Saying the chants merely 'crossed a line' and offering vague 'reminders' to artists is not accountability—it's cowardice. When confronted with explicit calls for violence against Jews, anything short of absolute condemnation and corrective action is complicity.' Referencing Hamas' October 2023 invasion of Israel's Nova music festival, where 378 were killed and 44 hostages were taken, Berk called the chants 'deeply re-traumatizing and terrifying.' 'This is a moment of reckoning. Festival organizers, media outlets, and artists must choose: will they be platforms for peace, or enablers of hate? Because silence is not neutrality, it is a green light for bigotry,' added Berk. 'Festivals must be prepared to halt performances that invoke hate; broadcasters must air festivals on deferred live and use their kill switch to take hate speech immediately off the air. Never again is not a slogan: It's a responsibility. And it's being betrayed on the world's biggest stages.' Following the performance, the BBC has decried the 'deeply offensive' set, which a spokesperson said they have 'no plans to make the performance available on demand.' A Glastonbury rep has said that organizers are 'appalled' by the chants, which '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.' Best of Deadline 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Simon Wiesenthal Center Slams ‘Bland' Glastonbury Festival Response to ‘Death to IDF' Chant: ‘It's Cowardice'
The Glastonbury Festival's official response to chants of 'Death to the IDF' and 'From the river to the sea' from the stage this weekend was slammed Sunday by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, with the Jewish advocacy group's CEO calling the statement 'bland,' 'cowardice' and 'complicity.' Glastonbury organizers said in a Sunday Instagram post that they are 'appalled' by the onstage statements of the punk duo Bob Vylan, whose singer led the crowd on Saturday in a series of chants including 'Death, death to the IDF' and 'Free Palestine.' '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 festival and organizer Emily Eavis posted Sunday. Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said the onstage display 'was not just disgraceful; it was sickening, dangerous, and chillingly reminiscent of a modern-day Nazi rally.' He was equally unimpressed with the festival's response. 'Saying the chants merely 'crossed a line' and offering vague 'reminders' to artists is not accountability — it's cowardice,' Berk said. 'When confronted with explicit calls for violence against Jews, anything short of absolute condemnation and corrective action is complicity.' Read Berk's entire statement below: 'What happened on the stages of Glastonbury yesterday was not just disgraceful; it was sickening, dangerous, and chillingly reminiscent of a modern-day Nazi rally. When Bob Vylan chanted 'Death, death to the IDF' and Kneecap urged fans to 'start a riot' outside a court where one of their members faces terrorism-related charges, it was public incitement, not performance. The explicit calls for violence against Jews, broadcast live by the BBC without interruption, literally gave hate a stage, a microphone, and the stamp of legitimacy of one of Britain's most respected public institutions. This was a calculated act of hate speech, glorifying violence and dehumanizing Jews through the demonization of Israel. The bile once spewed at fascist rallies in 1930s Europe is now being blasted from British concert stages, cheered on by huge crowds and broadcast by taxpayer-funded media. If festival organizers and broadcasters can't (or won't) foresee violent speech against Jews, the Glastonbury concert-goers certainly could: horrifically, the crowd of thousands was primed to join in call and response to Bob Vylan's hateful chant. At Coachella earlier this year, we saw similar antisemitic themes thinly disguised as activism. Cultural spaces once devoted to peace and unity are being hijacked to mainstream hate. And Glastonbury's bland response? Saying the chants merely 'crossed a line' and offering vague 'reminders' to artists is not accountability—it's cowardice. When confronted with explicit calls for violence against Jews, anything short of absolute condemnation and corrective action is complicity. On October 7, 2023, hundreds of young people were massacred and taken hostage by Hamas terrorists at Israel's Nova music festival. To hear calls for the death of Jews at a music event in the UK is deeply retraumatizing and terrifying. When young Jews attend a music festival they are murdered: when young Britons attend one, they're calling for those murders. This is a moment of reckoning. Festival organizers, media outlets, and artists must choose: will they be platforms for peace, or enablers of hate? Because silence is not neutrality, it is a green light for bigotry. Festivals must be prepared to halt performances that invoke hate; broadcasters must air festivals on deferred live and use their kill switch to take hate speech immediately off the air. Never again is not a slogan: It's a responsibility. And it's being betrayed on the world's biggest stages.' The post Simon Wiesenthal Center Slams 'Bland' Glastonbury Festival Response to 'Death to IDF' Chant: 'It's Cowardice' appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Coachella hip-hop act draws fire for anti-Israel message
Pro-Israel groups are criticizing Saturday's Coachella music festival performance by Irish hip-hop act Kneecap, which used the platform to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. During the band's set inside the Sonora tent, they projected the words 'F— Israel. Free Palestine' on a screen and led the crowd in a chant of 'Free Palestine.' 'The Palestinians have nowhere to go. It's their f—ing home. And they're bombing them from the skies,' band member Mo Chara told the audience. 'If you're not calling it a genocide what the f— are you calling it?' Kneecap is known for taking political positions on issues ranging from Irish republicanism to the UK government and censorship, as well as the Palestinian issue. In a statement to KTLA 5 News on Monday, the Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organization, The Simon Wiesenthal Center, condemned the band's performance as 'incendiary and anti-Israel hate.' 'At its best, music should bring people together and spread empathy, not hate,' said CEO Jim Berk. 'It's therefore remarkable that Kneecap used a music festival to foment hate, exactly the kind of gathering where, on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists brutally murdered, raped, burned and kidnapped innocent young people at the Nova Music Festival in Israel.' Berk invited members of Kneecap and the organizers of Coachella to participate in a discussion about Israel-Palestinian conflict. 'We believe music and music-makers should be part of the solution and not the problem,' he said. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the CEO of Goldenvoice, which promotes the Coachella music festival, was 'blindsided' by the band's actions. KTLA has reached out to AEG, Goldenvoice's parent company, for comment. The Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise assault on Israel, resulting in over 1,200 Israeli deaths and the taking of hostages. In response, Israel conducted extensive airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, leading to thousands of deaths and the destruction of a large swath of the Gaza Strip. Kneecap's foray into the conflict wasn't the only dose of politics at Coachella. Billie Joe Armstrong adjusted the lyrics of Green Day's set-opening 'American Idiot' to declare he's 'not a part of the MAGA agenda' and changed lyrics in 'Jesus of Suburbia' to 'running away from pain like the kids from Palestine.' The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
