BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit: Bob Vylan Glastonbury set WAS antisemitic
ECU: "Although Bob Vylan referred to ‘Zionists’ rather than ‘Jews’, that appeared to the ECU to be a distinction with very little difference in this instance"
The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit has partially upheld a complaint with regard to the corporation’s livestreaming of a Glastonbury Set by Bob Vylan, agreeing that “the content of this act, taken in the round, can fairly be characterised as antisemitic.”
In a judgement released today, the organisation’s ECU confirmed that it had received “four complaints about the livestreaming of a performance by the duo Bob Vylan, characterising it variously as containing incitement to violence, terrorism or ethnic cleansing, hate speech and expressions of antisemitism…one complaint argued that the performance also breached the BBC’s standards of impartiality.”
The unit described how, during the show held in June, Pascal Robinson-Foster, the band’s front man, “led the Glastonbury audience in chanting ‘Death, death to the IDF’ (as well as reciting the slogans ‘From the river to the sea’ and ‘Free, free Palestine’) and an earlier segment in which the same member referred to the boss of a record company he once worked for who ‘would talk about his support for Israel’ and whom he went on to describe in the most abusive terms, using the most offensive language, also referring to ‘f…ing Zionists’.
The primary weight of the ECU’s condemnation fell on Robinson-Foster’s diatribe against the record company boss.
“References to ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘From the river to the sea’, while viewed by some as implying the disappearance of the state of Israel, can also be regarded as no more than expressions of support for aspirations to a Palestinian state and do not of themselves threaten violent action”, they said, going on to state that “’Death, death to the IDF’ is clearly more problematic, but it is directed at an institution rather than individuals, and one which is not defined by ethnic or religious composition.
“However, it occurred in a context coloured by the earlier comments about the record company boss, which seemed to the ECU to have the effect (whether intended or not) of evoking a certain stereotype of Jewish influence in the entertainment industry. Although Bob Vylan referred to ‘Zionists’ rather than ‘Jews’, that appeared to the ECU to be a distinction with very little difference in this instance. The ECU therefore shares the view that the content of this act, taken in the round, can fairly be characterised as antisemitic.”
The ECU found that overall, the performance breached the BBC’s editorial standards with regards to guidelines on harm and offence dealing with “unduly intimidating, humiliating, intrusive, aggressive or derogatory remarks aimed at real people”. However it said that it did not consider the performance to have fallen foul of the guidelines on material likely to encourage or incite crime, saying that “in the context of a performance at a music festival, the chanting of slogans can be regarded as primarily an invitation to endorse a particular attitude.”
The ECU did not announce any further steps to be taken beyond those described in early July, in which the BBC said it would make immediate changes to livestreaming music events, including no longer broadcasting or streaming live any music performances deemed beforehand to be high risk, as well as making sure that editorial policy would now “always be available on site at major music festivals and events, to improve compliance processes and the speed of available advice”.
Despite the presence of numerous BBC staff members at Glastonbury, including high-level executives, the livestream of the Bob Vylan set was not pulled. The BBC has not confirmed whether any specific members of staff have been held accountable.
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