BBC staff who had authority to cut Bob Vylan livestream ‘were at Glastonbury’
Director-general of the BBC, Tim Davie, said: 'Cutting the livestream was an option open to those on the ground on the day'
Hundreds of BBC staff were working for the broadcaster at Glastonbury with individuals who had the authority to cut the Bob Vylan livestream present during the controversial performance, the BBC director-general has said.
It comes after the frontman of the punk rap duo, Bob Vylan, led crowds in chants of “death, death to the IDF (Israeli Military Force)” during their set at the Somerset music festival.
Police have since launched an investigation into the group with the BBC issuing an apology for the livestream and promising to no longer broadcast live acts they deem “high risk”.
In a letter responding to questions sent by Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, chairwoman of the Culture Media and Sport Committee, the director-general of the BBC, Tim Davie said: “Cutting the livestream was an option open to those on the ground on the day.
“There were 550 personnel working for the BBC at Glastonbury. Of these 328 were working for BBC Studios (camera crew, rigging, technical and production roles), 35 providing coverage for BBC News, and 187 other BBC public service, working across a wide range of roles, including technical crew, producers, presenters, engineers, runners, commissioners and compliance staff.”
He added: “There were failures in our coverage which led to offensive content being broadcast live. I deeply regret that such deplorable behaviour appeared on the BBC and want to apologise to our viewers and listeners and in particular the Jewish community.
“In considering what to learn from this, my immediate priority was to take swift actions, as detailed above, to mitigate against anything similar happening in the future.
“At the same time we are taking actions to ensure there is proper accountability for those found to be responsible for the failings in the live broadcast; and we are urgently reviewing our guidelines to see if any further measures are needed.”
Since their Glastonbury set, Bob Vylan, made up of frontman Bobby Vylan, whose real name is reportedly Pascal Robinson-Foster, and drummer Bobbie Vylan, have reportedly been dropped by their agency, United Talent Agency (UTA), which appears to have removed the group from their website, and have also been pulled from a number of concerts – including their US tour after having their visas revoked.
The group announced on Monday, in a post on Instagram, that they were unable to join rock band, Gogol Bordello, on their European Tour.
The statement said: “Due to logistical complications, we have decided not to join our friends Gogol Bordello on their upcoming European Tour. However, we will be heading to Europe in the coming months for both festivals and headline shows.”
It comes after the group performed a sold-out gig in London last week where Bobby Vylan said: “We are a loving band, we love you lot for being here with us. We love the Palestinian people.
“Their strength, their resilience, their ability to keep on going in the face of it all is a beautiful and inspiring thing.
“So as hard as this week may have been for us, it has been nothing in comparison to what the Palestinian people are going through right now.”
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