The fallout from Bob Vylan’s highly publicised Glastonbury performance has continued this week, with former BBC employee Jeremy Clarkson the latest high-profile name to wade into the saga.
The punk rock duo sparked outrage with their Worthy Farm performance when lead singer, Pascal Robinson-Foster, led the crowd in the anti-Israel chants “Death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” and “From the River to the Sea”.
Through social media, Robinson-Foster has refused to apologise, and pro-Palestine supporters have applauded the musician for his stance and continued anti-Israel demonstrations.
Meanwhile, the BBC has faced intense scrutiny of its own thanks to the decision to not only continue to broadcast the performance on iPlayer following the comments but also to make the entire set available to stream for hours after Bob Vylan had left the stage.
Several BBC bosses have faced calls to resign as a result of the saga, while a small number of senior staff have been told to step back from day-to-day duties on music and live events. The corporation also said there is “no place for antisemitism” in its output, and that it was taking action to “ensure proper accountability for those found to be responsible” for the broadcast.
Wading into the controversy, former Top Gear star Clarkson branded the incident as an “amazing spectacle” after being left in disbelief at what he was witnessing.
Bob Vylan led calls of ‘Death to the IDF’ at Glastonbury
PA
His amazement was trumped only when he discovered the BBC continued to make Bob Vylan’s set available to stream online for several hours after it took place.
The presenter-turned-farmer insisted he “doesn’t really care” about political stances at music festivals, citing “anti-Vietnam War hippies in the Seventies” and Jeremy Corbyn as two examples that he paid little attention to.
He went on to point out, however, that festival-goers see this political grandstanding as normal due to the worldviews of the Glastonbury crowd and the like. However, he was quick to clarify that music fans at home may not necessarily share the same views as the “young and idealistic” attendees.
“So when the BBC broadcast a man saying he wanted to kill everyone in the IDF, it was a bit of a shock. You know it. And I know it,” he explained before putting forward the question as to why the BBC appeared not to realise it.
LATEST CLARKSON’S FARM NEWS:
Jeremy Clarkson was unimpressed with the BBC’s handling of the performance
PA
Drawing comparisons with Lucy Connolly, whose 51-word tweet following the Southport stabbings resulted in a 31-month jail term, Clarkson pointed out: “We know, and they must know too, that these days you can go to prison for a long time for sending an offensive tweet.
“See Lucy Connolly for details about that.
“So you’d think that if a man on stage was calling for the death of 169,000 Jewish conscripts, it might set the alarm bells ringing in the BBC’s well-manned operations centre. But it didn’t.”
As he continued to muse over the possible reasons why the BBC failed to cut the feed to Bob Vylan’s tirade, he suggested it was a problem with “instinct”.
Bob Vylan have doubled down on their stance, refusing to apologise for their comments
PA
According to Clarkson, a “soft lefty” BBC employee who heard anti-Israel sentiment wouldn’t have an “instinctive revulsion triggered at all”.
He added in his column for The Sun: “I know, because I worked at the BBC for a really long time, that most of the people there are lefties. Soft lefties for sure but lefties nevertheless.”
Summarising his verdict on the controversy, Clarkson suggested the BBC should look for alternative avenues to advertise job vacancies, given the “whole place is currently full of Guardian-reading lefties”.
The BBC is continuing to reel from the saga, having also been criticised by the UK’s chief rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, while media regulator Ofcom has said the corporation had “questions to answer”.
A tweet by Lucy Connolly resulted in a 31-month jail sentence
X
Meanwhile, Bob Vylan took to the stage in Athens, Greece, this past weekend, where they continued to display their anti-Israel stance through sloganeering on stage.
They also had cause for celebration despite the raft of repercussions from their Glastonbury set, with their album seeing a surge in sales and downloads from supporters.
“Ban Bob Vylan? The people said ‘Nah’,” the duo penned in an Instagram post yesterday. “We need artists that speak up. Our album ‘Humble As The Sun’ is back in the charts, and, as an independent band releasing music on our own label, it shows the power of the people.
“You can’t get dropped if you own the label. Thank you for all the new and continued support. P.S. If you ordered vinyl they will be shipped in a couple of weeks due to manufacturing.” (sic)