'Death to the IDF,' UK Punk Band Chants During Glastonbury Music Festival

An English punk duo chanted pro-Palestine slogans and slogans against the Israeli military during their performance at a UK music festival, shocking organizers.

Punk duo Bob Vylan took to the stage of Glastonbury music festival at at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Glastonbury, just ahead of the performance by popular Irish band Kneecap, who have also been embroiled in controversy due to their pro-Palestine political stances.

One member of the duo, rapper Bobby Vylan, began chanting slogans such as "free, free Palestine" and "death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]".

These chants drew ire from activists who campaign against antisemitism, with some groups stating that they will lodge complaints with BBC over the network's decision to broadcast the performance.

The festival released a joint statement with Emily Eavis, co-founder of the festival, on social media.

"Glastonbury Festival was created in 1970 as a place for people to come together and rejoice in music, the arts and the best of human endeavour," they began in a statement posted on Instagram. "As a festival, we stand against all forms of war and terrorism. We will always believe in - and actively campaign for - hope, unity, peace and love."

"With almost 4,000 performances at Glastonbury 2025, there will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose views we do not share, and a performer's presence here should never be seen as a tacit endorsement of their opinions and beliefs," the statement continued.

"However, we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday. Their chants 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," it concluded.

BBC also announced that the set would not be available on BBC iPlayer, with a spokesperson stating that the chants were "deeply offensive", and that an onscreen warning indicating "very strong and discriminatory language" had been added to the broadcast.

Social media users have taken to online platforms to express support for Bob Vylan and for Kneecap, who's set BBC refused to broadcast.

"I didn't know Bob Vylan but now I'm a fan," wrote one user.

"The BBC refused to stream Kneecap @KNEECAPCEOL live at Glastonbury because calling out the british government's role in global violence is apparently off-limits. So Bob Vylan @BobbyVylan did it on their own livestream. You can censor the artist. But not the message," wrote another.

"Bob Vylan literally cooking Israel in front of more than 200000 people live, probably will be watched by 100s millions, Zionists are crazying right now," added another.

"Crying at the bbc refusing to broadcast kneecap's performance live just for bob vylan the artist playing before them to do this," said a fourth.