The BBC has admitted that controversial punk duo Bob Vylan were deemed “high risk” before Glastonbury took place over the weekend, while the board has thrown its weight behind Director General Tim Davie and the “swift actions” he took on the day.
BBC Chair Samir Shah apologized to “viewers, listeners and particularly the Jewish community over the affair.”
In a statement on Glastonbury and from BBC Chair Samir Shah, the corporation noted that Bob Vylan were one of seven acts “deemed suitable for live streaming with appropriate mitigations,” despite being in a “high risk” category.
“Prior to Glastonbury, a decision was taken that compliance risks could be mitigated in real time on the live stream – through the use of language or content warnings – without the need for a delay,” said the BBC. “This was clearly not the case.”
Going forwards, any performance deemed high risk will now not be broadcast live or streamed live, the BBC said, while editorial policy support will always be available on site at major music festivals and events.
The BBC again expressed regret for not cutting the live stream of Bob Vylan, while saying that “warnings appeared on the stream on two occasions and the editorial team took the decision not to cut the feed.” It added that the team on the day had prioritized “stopping the performance from featuring on demand.” The Punk duo chanted “death to the IDF” and complained about working for a “f***ing Zionist” during their set. They are now being investigated by the police and have been dropped by UTA.
Today’s acknowledgement that Bob Vylan had already been flagged will likely only lead to more questions for Davie and his team. Since Glastonbury, it has emerged that Davie was present on the day of Bob Vylan and controversial Irish hip hop trio Kneecap’s performance, and it was Davie who took the decision to remove Bob Vylan’s performance from iPlayer.
Shah backs Davie
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had said the BBC has a “problem of leadership” in the wake of Glastonbury but today Shah and the board communicated their full support for Davie.
He said the board had met on Tuesday to hear what actions were being taken and the “executive have agreed to put in place a set of strengthened editorial practices and policies for live music programming.”
“The Board fully supports the Director-General and the swift actions taken by him and his team to identify these errors and address them,” said Shah.
He apologized to “all our viewers and listeners and particularly the Jewish community for allowing the ‘artist’ Bob Vylan to express unconscionable antisemitic views live on the BBC.”
