Criminal Investigation Launched into Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s Glastonbury Performances as US Revokes Punk Group’s Visa Over Antisemitic Death Chants
Police have announced a criminal investigation into Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s Glastonbury performances as the Trump administration kills the punk duo’s American tour by revoking their visa over antisemitic death chants. The Mail has more.
There has been widespread condemnation of the comments made by the group Bob Vylan whose frontman led chants of “Free Palestine” and “Death to the IDF” – while there has also been controversy over Irish rap trio Kneecap’s appearance there too.
The BBC has faced strong criticism over its various responses following the performance that was broadcast on Saturday, including suggestions it should face charges – while the band this afternoon had their US visas revoked.
Avon and Somerset Police have now said: “Video footage and audio from Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s performances at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday has been reviewed.
“Following the completion of that assessment process we have decided further enquiries are required and a criminal investigation is now being undertaken. A senior detective has been appointed to lead this investigation.
“This has been recorded as a public order incident at this time while our enquiries are at an early stage. The investigation will be evidence-led and will closely consider all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crimes.
“We have received a large amount of contact in relation to these events from people across the world and recognise the strength of public feeling.
“There is absolutely no place in society for hate.
“Neighbourhood policing teams are speaking with people in their local communities and key stakeholders to make sure anyone who needs us knows that we are here for them.
“We hope the work we have carried out, and are continuing to carry out, reassures the public how seriously we are treating Saturday’s events.
“We politely ask the public refrain from continuing to report this matter to us because an investigation is already taking place.”
The BBC today admitted it should have cut the broadcast of what it called “utterly unacceptable” and “antisemitic” sentiments in Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set.
And media watchdog Ofcom told the BBC it was “very concerned” over Saturday’s live broadcast.
Worth reading in full.
The cancellation of the visa probably serves Bob Vylan right but, as Laurie argues in the Spectator, a genuine commitment to free speech should require a threshold higher than what these morons have been accused of to attract criminal sanction.
Stop Press: BBC Director-General Tim Davie personally made the decision not to pull the iPlayer livestream of Bob Vylan’s performance while in attendance at the festival himself, it has emerged.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Strongly disagree. Hatred of drug pushers. People smugglers. Rape gangs. All OK in my book.
I hate all those things and punk-rap too.
The visa granting permission to visit the USA is a privilege, not an entitlement. USA officials decide who is so privileged.
The USA – just like any other country – should have the absolute right to decide who can and who cannot enter the country.
Apart from its own citizens, nobody has an automatic right to enter a country.
Nobody questioned that. But Trump and other members of his administration lecturing the world about free speech while punishing musicians for shouting “Death to the IDF” (that’s still a military organisation and not a person) doesn’t hang together, especially considering that largely drugged and otherwise intoxicated crowds at English music festivals chanting anything has zero real-world influence. It’s nothing but pretty stupid for-the-moment feelgood posing.
It’s only considered free speech when Trump and foreign allies he considers particularly important don’t disapprove of it means No freedom of speech as nobody who is anyhow subject to possibly detrimental actions of the current US administration can dare to say anything in public in such a situation without asking said administration first if it’s ok with them that he says that. That’s the a definition acting as (global) censorship authority.
The vast majority of Israelis serve in the IDF, it’s quite clearly a call to kill jews.
That you claim to be convinced that two entirely different things must surely be the same doesn’t make them so. Especially not when you’re also telling really badly made-up lies: The strenght of the IDF is only about 1.7% of the population of Israel.
FALSE!
“MANDATORY MILITARY SERVICE, known as conscription, is a legal requirement for Jewish Israeli citizens to serve in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Established in 1949, a year after Israel’s founding, this policy ensures national security in a region marked by persistent geopolitical tensions.”
Wikipedia gives the strength of the IDF as 169,500 active and 465,000 reserve. The population of Israel is 9.757 million. 169,500 is 1.74% of 9.757 million. That most of these 169,500 are conscripts doesn’t increase the number of serving personnel.
Thing 1: Musicians?
Thing 2: It’s not a punishment. It’s the USA declining to extend a privilege.
Call that whatever you like. The outcome is certain monetary loss for the people affected by it (among other things). This makes it essentially a fine.
Freedom of speech has never included a right to incite violence. “Death to the IDF” is about as clear an example of inciting violence as it is possible to find. Only in places like Iran and Gaza is it legal to make that kind of statement. Bob and his pals should try doing a few concerts there.
I always agree with Pete, here. If you’ve not seen him, he’s class. Straight as a die.🤣
https://x.com/CherylWroteIt/status/1939715154259644849
😂😂😂
Please elaborate which violent actions against the IDF were committed by Glastonbury festivalgoers since this incident or which are credibly being planned.
This is people at a festival shouting nonsense while under influence who have exactly no intention to turn that into any kind of real world activity and there’s also exactly no risk of anyone else planning to anything because of this.
It’s your prerogative to think that nonsense that’s really disagreeable to you should be a punishable offence. But that’s just crying for censorship.
Do you really not understand the difference between incitement to violence and actual violence. I did not claim actual violence, but incitement is still a crime. This idiot has tried to normalise the idea of violence towards the IDF and for that he should be prosecuted IMHO.
Incitement to violence requires that something is actually intended to incite violence and that such violence can also possibly occur. Nobody at Glastonbury was planning to start an actual attack on the IDF — after all, one of the best-armed and trained military forces of the world, which doesn’t exactly make it a good target for a bunch of unarmed spoiled brats — and with the IDF being more than 3000 miles distant from the festival location, there was also never a chance of it actually being targetted.
Saying something like, “See him over there, he’s IDF, kill him!”, would be incitment.
Prancing about on a stage bleating about the IDF in front of bunch of woke w*****s is not incitment, it’s just a wee bit cliched.
Oh the fake moral outrage, the DS is clearly on point for, and unquestioning of the one regime that many might suggest is engaged in outright genocide at the moment. No one seems to raise a hint of concern about the new proposed ‘Riviera of the Middle East’, clearly those that occupy that territory need to be ‘disposed of’ without any ‘Western fuss’ but have a band make a political statement against the armed force doing the ‘disposing’, the DS and many of those here get their knickers in a twist.
The outrage many feel is far from fake. Could you be suggesting that the morals are fake too?
To be fair the final sentence of the article does say “a genuine commitment to free speech should require a threshold higher than what these morons have been accused of to attract criminal sanction.”
I agree. USA declining visas is not a criminal sanction.
Yes countries should be free to refuse entry on a whim
What’s missing in all of this are good old British values and basic British decency. If there was a proper reinstatement of corny things like manners there wouldn’t be any calls for Free Speech yeah or nay because these sorts of cheap, demeaning shows of animal behaviour would not be occurring. Yes, what’s missing are British manners where in the first instance consideration is given to others. Not much of that on show from the crude and talentless, probably uneducated, Vylan was there? Clearly it had not occurred to this pea-brained muppet that some, even amongst the Glasto crow, might not share his views, but does he care? Clearly not. So, I would readily see him banned from public performances not because of his views but because he lacks the wherewithal to conduct himself as a proper citizen of a western nation. I don’t want crap like this at a live performance and yes I am a regular gig goer. The guy is entitled to his views, he is not entitled to use the freedom attached to his current popularity and access to public spaces which are denied to me, in order to ram them down my throat. As usual… Read more »
I love good manners and seek to practice them, which is why I wouldn’t go to Glastonbury and would be inclined to shun most similar events, most new films and books and TV shows
Common Law – free to speak unless used to incite hatred and/or violence. Isn’t that a genuine commitment to free speech? It seems we have forgotten we are a Common Law based society – these past few thousand years.
Quite clear. Quite simple.
Did they intend to incite, was it likely they would, did they incite?
Easy enough to test in Court for a jury to decide.
That’s what our system of due process is for.
Note: Lucy Connolly was not given due process because she was persuaded to plead guilty, because the slithy toves involved knew they wouldn’t get a conviction.
“Used to incite hatred” seems pretty vague to me.
I think what they have in the US seems to work OK. I don’t know much about how it is applied in lower courts.
The moral gymnastics here are something to behold.
The IDF Killing 60,00 plus and counting- the aim is clear- Greater Israel, and not a hint of condemnation on here.
Yet some B list popstar makes these comments and apoplexy reigns.
People are very selective with their outrage, remember Israel has a giant halo and must never be criticised.
How many innocent German citizens did the UK & USA kill in deliberate area bombing raids over Dresden and Hambourg towards the end of the war?
Then there’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Genocide?
The definition of genocide is somewhat unclear but the intent behind the British bombing campaign was basically to wipe all German cities with a population of 10,000 or more off the map and kill as many of the people living there as possible. This was called morale bombing as the idea behind it was for Germany to become unable to continue its war effort as the morale of the civilian population had broken down and it – ideally – caused a regime change by rising up against the government. It was a spectacular failure as the civilian population really became much more dependent on the government because of the air raids and because they’d only invoke hatred and a desire for getting even with the attackers. Nominally, the USAAF was doing daytime raids to attack military targets, however, every train station or telephone switching office was considered a military target and the technique developed to ensure that these military targets were actually hit was so-called carpet bombing — all bombers of an attacking fleet releasing their bombs at the same time. The outcome was indiscriminate area bombing, just with high-explosives instead of the incendiaries the Royal Air Force predominantly used.… Read more »
?
Hurray! Bring back basic decency and respect. People are allowed to hold these vile opinions, and even share them with like-minded douchebags and bigots down the pub, but that’s world’s apart from congregating en masse to shout your vitriol in the public arena or at concerts attended by many thousands of people. This virtue-signalling prat should’ve checked his political views at the door. I agree with this lady who calls out the hypocrisy of the crowd. So much for tolerance and ”be kind”, eh? ”I’ve been to a lot of protests over the years — across different sides of the political spectrum. I’ve also been to far more music festivals and gigs than I can count, covering every genre you can imagine. I’ve stood in crowds watching some of the most deliberately provocative bands around — death metal, doomcore, black metal, grindcore — whose entire thing is to shock the audience. And yet, not once, not once, have I ever been asked to chant “death to” anyone. Not at a protest, not at a gig, not even as some twisted bit of irony. If it had happened, I’d have walked away. I’d have been genuinely freaked out. Because there’s something… Read more »
If (when?) they are charged, the charge sheet will have to state their real names, and the charge sheet is a public record. They will have shot themselves in the foot 😁
Meh. They’re using pseudonyms just to make sure their middle-class mortgage applications are not screwed up.
I like this. I wonder how many would assume this is real.🤫👀
https://x.com/boot15_vu/status/1939438038729343023
The name of the ranting yob who fronts the outfit is… Pascal Robinson-Foster
And he’s as repulsive as they come, made even more so by removing his clothing to prance about on stage in only a pair of shorts. Put it away!
The protagonist’s name (Pascal Robinson-Foster, aged 34, British) is already in the public record, at Companies House. Also an address in Manchester (79 Tib Street, M4 1LS), which is probably a letterbox address managed by his accountants, see below. He controls two companies with cash reserves of almost £300k.
Companies House is now (of course…) stuffed full of requirements to report DEI and CSG, but no longer tells us what a company actually does to make a profit. Robinson-Foster describes himself as a musician
I’m going to hazard a guess that these people might be his accountants: https://www.jonchild.com/
Mogwai was on the case two days ago, thanks to her for reporting the above. Impressive how quickly ‘UK Lawyers For Israel’ and the US Embassy swung into action too, much quicker than the BBC ‘Apology Unit’ did. ‘We apologise for being caught out (after we’d broadcast it)’.
The polizei stasi say ‘there is no place in society for hate’. Who gave them this mission? There is always a place for hate when it is deserved. A large proportion of our native people are hating the way our land and we narive ESWI people are being treated by the Communist pigs who run this country
If, as reported, Tim Davie personally decided not to immediately pull the plug then his position is untenable.
Don’t give him the opportunity to resign: he should be sacked.
““Following the completion of that assessment process we have decided further enquiries are required”
WHY?
So much outrage, so much support for an outrageous organization. DDN has brought out a new video on the subject: “The Israeli military is in no way, shape or form, a victim. It’s an occupying force which, according to international law, has no right to self-defence, let alone genocide … “The Israeli embassy stated that the words uttered on the stage at Glastonbury amount to incitement to ethnic cleansing. “This is a regime that is actively ethnically cleansing the Palestinians as we speak. The Israeli occupation forces have been burning children alive in tents. The Israeli military has been sniping children directly in the head. The Israeli occupation forces have been luring starving Palestinians to food distribution centres, then mowing them down as direct policy. The Israeli military filled the car which contained Hind Rajab and her family with hundreds of bullets. The Israeli occupation forces have bombed 36 hospitals, the Israeli military killed 15 paramedics in Rafah as they came to try and help those injured in an earlier air strike. “If our media and political class close their eyes to this horror, we cannot take their crocodile tears seriously. “Where is the same respect for the sanctity of… Read more »
Good. It’s about time these smug little gits took responsibility and faced consequences of their glib performances.
PC Plod’s “ criminal investigation” is only because of the huge outcry, otherwise they would have ignored it so as not to interfere with more important work policing social media and rooting out Tweets with hurty-words and sending squads round to doorsteps of people who have committed non-crimes”.
What we need is a criminal investigation into the police.
I hear all the criticism about the “death to the IDF” chants and understand it, but don’t understand why nobody is talking about the “you want your country back – f*ck off” chant. Is it too close to the bone for discussion? Just wondering …..
This !!!
It seems to me that most of the supposedly right-wing media types and politicians all of a sudden get very uncomfortable when the subject of who owns a country comes up, especially when it comes to Europe and native Europeans.
However, they do not hesitate to say that Israel belongs to the Jewish people, no if’s, no buts.
This episode has shown them for who they truly are, total cowards and shills for Israel.
I have never seen such large numbers of mentally ill people in one place.