Bob Vylan Sues BBC for Defamation After Glastonbury Fallout

The punk-rap duo Bob Vylan is suing the BBC after the broadcaster said the band’s “utterly unacceptable” Glastonbury performance last year contained “antisemitic sentiments”.

Frontman Pascal Robinson-Foster and drummer Wade Laurence George filed separate legal proceedings against the BBC at the high court in Ireland on Tuesday. They also launched defamation proceedings against Irish broadcaster RTÉ in December after it published a news report labelling the chants at Glastonbury to be antisemitic. 

“In the immediate aftermath of our performance at Glastonbury 2025, the BBC wasted no time in placing labels upon us that did not, do not and never will fit,” the bandmembers wrote on Instagram under their individual stage names Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan. 

The controversy arose after the band led the chant “Death, death to the IDF” at Glastonbury last year, referring to the Israel Defense Forces, which is committing genocide in Gaza. 

The BBC broadcasted the chant live on air but later said doing so was a mistake. It then removed the recording from iPlayer and accused Bob Vylan of peddling “antisemitic sentiments”. 

In response, Bob Vylan said: “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.”

On Friday, the band wrote on Instagram: “The BBC have attempted to silence those that oppose the heinous crimes taking place in Palestine, instead labelling them as antisemitic, editing their speeches [and] removing their content.”

They added: “These responses are unacceptable. So seeing the opportunity to remind them [of] the power of the people that they are attempting to silence, we had no choice but to take on this fight.”

Following Glastonbury 2025, police investigations into Bob Vylan and fellow anti-Zionist band Kneecap were launched and later dropped.