CNN
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British police say they are reviewing comments made on stage by rappunk duo Bob Billan and hip-hop trioy cap at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.
Rapper Bobby Villain appeared on the festival’s third largest Westholz stage on Saturday, yelling “Free and Free Palestine” before leading the crowd to lead a chant against the Israeli army.
The video showed the rapper screaming at the microphone. “Importantly, have you ever heard of this?
The artist also performed in front of a screen that read, “The United Nations calls it genocide, the BBC calls it ‘conflict’.”
The British Israeli Embassy said it was “deeply disturbed” at the festival by what was called “inflammatory and hateful” rhetoric.
When chants such as “Death to IDF” were spoken in front of tens of thousands of festival attendees, he said that “stimulating serious concerns about the normalization of extremist language and the glory of violence.”
“We are calling on organizers, artists and public leaders of the Glastonbury Festival in the UK to condemn this rhetoric and rejection of all forms of hatred,” he added.
The Glastonbury Festival said in a statement “applauseful” with Vylan’s comments.
“Their chants are crossing so many lines and we are an urgent reminder to everyone involved in the production of the festival that Glastonbury has no place for anti-Semitism, hate speech or incitement to violence,” the organizers said.
Prior to the five-day music festival, all eyes were in the Irish hip-hop trio knee-related. Band member Liam O’Hanna was charged with a terrorist crime last month after an investigation by London Metropolitan Police.
The charges he denied were linked to a London gig in November 2024, and he allegedly posted the flag of Hezbollah, a prohibited terrorist organization prohibited by British law. Before the festival at Worthy Farm, British Prime Minister Kielstarmer said he did not think the group would be “not appropriate” to perform.
Knecap was a critic of the voices of Israel’s war in Gaza, but said he had never supported Hamas or Hezbollah before.
During the set, Mo Chara told the crowd that recent events were “stressing” but nothing compared to what the Palestinians are experiencing.
Kneecap rapper Naoise o Caireallain, held under the stage name Móglaíbap, returned to Starmer’s comments on Saturday’s set.
Referring to future court dates for his bandmates, O Caireallain also said he would “will riot outside the court.”
Police in Somerset, where the festival was held, said the unit was “aware of comments made by the act,” and that “the video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether a crime that requires a criminal investigation has been committed.”
British health secretary Wes Streeting denounced the performance as “terrifying” in an interview with Sky News on Sunday morning.
He said the BBC and Glastonbury, who will broadcast the set live, “we have questions that will answer.”
A BBC spokesperson said some of the comments made during Vylan’s performance were “deeply offensive,” adding that there are no plans to make performance available on demand through the iPlayer streaming platform.
