The controversy over Bob Vylan's performance overshadowed this year's Glastonbury Festival (Image: Getty)
BBC director-general Tim Davie is facing new calls to quit following revelations he was at the Glastonbury Festival on the day songs calling for the “death” of Israel’s defence forces were broadcast live. The BBC boss has been warned his position is “untenable” and that confidence in the broadcaster is collapsing on his watch.
There is anger at the airing of chants of “death, death to the IDF” by Bob Vylan singer Pascal Robinson-Foster, who performs under the stage name of Bobby Vylan. Former policing minister Sir Mike Penning urged Mr Davie not to delay his exit.
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He told the Express: “He needs to wake up and smell the coffee. His position is completely untenable.”
Former Brexit minister David Jones said: “Glastonbury is simply the latest in a string of blunders by Tim Davie: the mishandled Huw Edwards scandal, the Lineker suspension fiasco, and a damning workplace culture review. Under Davie, trust has collapsed and the BBC looks slow, reactive, and politically compromised.
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“Staff are disillusioned. Viewers are walking. Accountability starts at the top – and Davie’s position is no longer tenable. The BBC needs a reset. Tim Davie should go.”
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Sir Michael Ellis, the former attorney general, said: “Tim Davie’s position has become untenable – the BBC has lost the confidence of a significant proportion of the British people and it’s time for a change at the head of the organisation.”
Reform UK leader Richard Tice said: “The time for apologies is over. Someone has to be held responsible”.
He said the fiasco was the result of either “gross negligence by BBC personnel or deliberate”.
Meanwhile, Bob Blackman, chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench MPs, said: “The BBC’s broadcast normalises violent language and has already emboldened protestors in British cities to repeat hateful calls for the death of Jews. Shame on Tim Davie and the BBC.”
BBC director-general Tim Davie is under pressure over the broadcast of Boy Vylan's performance (Image: Getty)
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Lord Walney, a former independent government adviser on political violence and disruption, said the BBC had “sunk to new depths with its broadcasting of calls for the killing of Israelis”.
He said the “absurd situation was eminently foreseeable” and claimed the “fight against extremism within this country is being directly harmed by our national broadcaster”.
Lord Walney, a former MP who quit the Labour Party in 2018, claiming antisemitism was being “tolerated”, said: “All right-minded people will be concerned at how the extremist rhetoric was zealously echoed by thousands of festivalgoers and is now being heard on the streets of Britain”.
A Downing Street spokesperson said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has “asked for an urgent explanation” from the BBC and she expects “rapid action”.
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It is reported that Mr Davie visited the festival on Saturday and was told that Bobby Vylan, one half of the British rap punk duo, led the crowd in chants that included “free, free Palestine”.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The director-general was informed of the incident after the performance and at that point he was clear it should not feature in any other Glastonbury coverage.”
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has condemned “the airing of vile Jew-hatred” and the BBC’s “belated and mishandled response”.
The Bob Vylan group said in a statement: “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.”
The BBC has come under fire for live-streaming the performance on iPlayer with on-screen warnings about discriminatory language.
Avon and Somerset Police has launched a probe into what has been recorded as a “public order incident”.
The broadcaster admitted in a statement that “one performance within our live-streams included comments that were deeply offensive”. It said it should have “pulled the stream during the performance”.
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A BBC spokesperson said: “Millions of people tuned in to enjoy Glastonbury this weekend across the BBC's output but one performance within our livestreams included comments that were deeply offensive. The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence. The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury’s condemnation of the performance.
"The performance was part of a live stream of the West Holts stage on BBC iPlayer. The judgment on Saturday to issue a warning on screen while streaming online was in line with our editorial guidelines. In addition, we took the decision not to make the performance available on demand. The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.
"In light of this weekend, we will look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air."