The London punk-rap duo Bob Vylan used their set at UK music festival Glastonbury to loudly protest Israel's genocidal military campaign in Gaza, including a "death to the IDF" chant. Afterwards, Glastonbury released a statement equating the chant with antisemitism, saying the festival organizers were "appalled" and that Bob Vylan had "very much crossed a line." The BBC, which livestreamed the performance, released its own statement describing the chant as "utterly unacceptable." The US government rescinded Bob Vylan's visas ahead of a scheduled fall American tour that seemingly isn't going to happen, and booking agency UTA dropped the duo.
Now Bob Vylan has been removed from two more festival lineups. The Radar Festival, scheduled to take place this weekend in Manchester, UK, posted today that Bob Vylan will not be appearing this weekend as scheduled. Kave Fest, which will take place this weekend in Gisors, France, issued a more detailed statement about taking Bob Vylan off their lineup:
In light of recent events, Bob Vylan have been dropped by their agent. The Eure department and the city of Gisors have informed us they will oppose Bob Vylan's presence at Kave Fest. This is forcing us to cancel Bob Vylan's appearance at Kave Fest this year. We fully support freedom of expression for ALL artists around the world. Our thoughts are with the victims of war in Palestine and their families. We stand firmly against all acts of war and hatred. Our team is working full steam ahead to prepare the best Kave Fest yet. A new band for Sunday will be announced soon.
Peace & Love
Bob Vylan's two members — who go by Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan — have continued to stand by their actions as the fallout from Glastonbury has unfolded. "Regardless of how it was said, calling for an end to the slaughter of innocents is never wrong," Bobbie said in a video message. In another statement, they further clarified, "We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people. We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine." Now, in a new Instagram story responding to being dropped from Radar, the group writes, "Silence is not an option. We will be fine, the people of Palestine are hurting. Manchester we will be back."
Response: https://i.ibb.co/KcXJcjDr/bobvylan.png
