British Airways withdraws support for Louis Theroux podcast after Bob Vylan episode

British Airways this week pulled support for the Louis Theroux podcast after an appearance by the front man of controversial punk act Bob Vylan – as calls grew for the BBC to review its long association with the filmmaker.

Pascal Robinson-Foster used the interview published on Tuesday to say he would readily repeat his “death to the IDF chant” that brought him to prominence this summer at Glastonbury.

Police launched an investigation the band’s appearance at the festival, which also included a diatribe about working for “f***ing Zionists”, after it was broadcast live on the BBC. The national broadcaster’s complaints unit later said the content “taken in the round, can fairly be characterised as antisemitic”.

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During the podcast interview with Theroux, Robinson-Foster said: “If I was to go on Glastonbury again tomorrow, yes I would do it again. I’m not regretful of it. I’d do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays.”

In what was described as a “softball” interview by the BBC’s former direction of television Danny Cohen, Theroux noted that the Community Security Trust had stated that “29 June [the day after Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set] saw the highest daily total of anti-Semitic incidents in the first half of 2025”. Vylan responded by questioning what CST were counting as antisemitic incidents, before saying “I don’t think I have created an unsafe atmosphere for the Jewish community. If there were large numbers of people going out and going like ‘Bob Vylan made me do this’. I might go, oof, I’ve had a negative impact here.”

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Speaking about identity, Theroux said: “Jewish identity in the Jewish community, as expressed in Israel has become almost like an acceptable quote, unquote, way of understanding ethno-nationalism.

“So it’s like they’re prototyping an aggressive form of ethno-nationalism , which is often rolled out, whether it’s by people like Viktor Orban in Hungary or Trump in the US. It’s become sort of this certain sense of post-Holocaust Jewish exceptionalism or Zionist exceptionalism, has become a role model on the national stage for what these white identitarians would like to do in their own countries.”

Following the outcry, a BA statement to Jewish News said: “Our sponsorship of the series has now been paused and the advert has been removed. We’re grateful that this was brought to our attention, as the content clearly breaches our sponsorship policy in relation to politically sensitive or controversial subject matters. We and our third-party media agency have processes in place to ensure these issues don’t occur and we’re investigating how this happened.”

But calls were growing last night for the BBC to reconsider Theroux’s long-standing association with the broadcaster for whom he has made many documentaries over decades. Keith Black, chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, which has written to the corporation, said: “Louis Theroux’s recent podcast featured discussion of the conspiracy theory that so-called ‘post-Holocaust Jewish exceptionalism’ underpins white nationalism worldwide. We regard this as an absurd and deeply offensive claim. The programme gave a prominent platform to Bob Vylan, who led chants at Glastonbury including ‘Death to the IDF’, a slogan widely recognised as antisemitic. As Theroux both edited and published the episode on his own platform, he bears responsibility for its content. The BBC should reflect carefully on their continuing association with him.”

Hailing BA’s decision, Lord Austin said: “It was a very soft interview in which Theroux failed to properly challenge Bobby Vylan hateful rhetoric. In fact, he appeared to largely agree with him. Theroux himself chipped in with his own misguided views that Israel is an ethno-nationalist country acting as a role model for white supremacists around the world.  This is a shocking statement that seriously calls into question his impartiality as BBC journalist who has produced a number of controversial documentaries about Israel. The BBC should now follow BA’s lead and drop Louis Theroux.”

Responding to the interview last week, Jewish film, TV and music producer Leo Pearlman, said: “Louis Theroux has every right to interview whoever he wants, but with that right comes responsibility. When you give a microphone to someone who proudly repeats a genocidal chant that played a part in inspiring attacks on Jews across Britain, you’re not probing hate, you’re amplifying it. And don’t be fooled, this isn’t journalism exploring the edges of free speech, without meaningful challenge it’s complicity dressed up as curiosity. A chant that antisemitic mobs have parroted across the world shouldn’t be given another stage, let alone sympathetic airtime.”

Jewish News has contacted Monzo, another sponsor of the podcast series, for comment.