Although Glastonbury and the BBC have condemned Bob Vylan‘s onstage comments at the England music festival, at least one Jewish human rights organization is not satisfied with the response.
Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called out both the festival and the network for providing a platform for the “disgraceful” performance, in which Vylan led the crowd in chants of “death to the IDF” and “free Palestine.”
“It was sickening, dangerous and chillingly reminiscent of a modern-day Nazi rally,” said Berk, adding: “It was public incitement, not performance. The explicit calls for violence against Jews, broadcast live by the BBC without interruption, literally gave hate a stage, a microphone, and the stamp of legitimacy of one of Britain’s most respected public institutions.”
Berk continued, “And Glastonbury’s bland response? Saying the chants merely ‘crossed a line’ and offering vague ‘reminders’ to artists is not accountability—it’s cowardice. When confronted with explicit calls for violence against Jews, anything short of absolute condemnation and corrective action is complicity.”
Referencing Hamas’ October 2023 invasion of Israel’s Nova music festival, where 378 were killed and 251 hostages were taken, Berk called the chants “deeply re-traumatizing and terrifying.”
“This is a moment of reckoning. Festival organizers, media outlets, and artists must choose: will they be platforms for peace, or enablers of hate? Because silence is not neutrality, it is a green light for bigotry,” added Berk. “Festivals must be prepared to halt performances that invoke hate; broadcasters must air festivals on deferred live and use their kill switch to take hate speech immediately off the air. Never again is not a slogan: It’s a responsibility. And it’s being betrayed on the world’s biggest stages.”
Following the performance, the BBC has decried the “deeply offensive” set, which a spokesperson said they have “no plans to make the performance available on demand.”
A Glastonbury rep has said that officials are “appalled” by the chants, which “very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the Festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.”
