❓WHAT HAPPENED: Talent agency UTA dropped punk duo Bob Vylan following for leading chants of “death, death to the IDF” at England’s Glastonbury Festival.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Bob Vylan, UTA executives, Glastonbury organizers, and the BBC.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The performance took place on June 28 at Glastonbury’s West Holts stage, and the fallout occurred in the days following.
💬KEY QUOTE: “We are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday. Their chants very much crossed a line.” – Emily Eavis, chief festival organizer.
🎯IMPACT: The BBC faced backlash for streaming the performance, and UTA removed Bob Vylan from its client roster.
UTA, a leading talent agency, has dropped punk duo Bob Vylan for leading crowds in chants of “death to IDF” at the Glastonbury Festival in England. During their June 28 set, Bobby Vylan complained about working for a “f***ing Zionist.” The performance also included the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine must be, will be, inshallah, it will be free,” streamed live on the BBC, which is widely understood as a call for the destruction of the State of Israel, which extends from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea.
Glastonbury Festival organizers, including chief Emily Eavis, condemned the statements, calling them anti-Semitic and unacceptable. “There is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence,” Eavis said in a statement. UTA has since removed Bob Vylan from its website, declining to comment further.
Bob Vylan have also had their U.S. visas revoked by the U.S. State Department, with Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau warning that “foreigners who glorify violence and hatred” are not welcome in America.
BREAKING:
Major scandal at the Glastonbury Festival in England.
“Death, death to the IDF” was chanted from the stage by Bob Vylan in front of 200 000 people. Tens of thousands chanted along.
The entire thing was broadcasted live by the BBC to millions of people.
Loads of… pic.twitter.com/LvoPFVQb6v
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 28, 2025
The BBC also faced criticism for broadcasting the performance. The network issued a statement expressing regret, saying, “The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves.” The broadcaster admitted it should have cut the stream during the performance.
Bob Vylan also performed a song addressing native Britons with the lyrics “I heard you want your country back? Shut the f**k up… you can’t have that” during the performance.
Reform Party leader Nigel Farage reacted to the performance by saying, “If you vote Reform you can have your country back from these lunatics.”
Establishment-approved musician Bob Vylan chants “Heard you want your country back? Shut the fuck up”
He’s not saying it to Palestinians – wouldn’t dare, of course THEY own THEIR land. He’d give them a solemn Indigenous Land Acknowledgement. (And then Hamas would behead him).… pic.twitter.com/ssvCuJ5Jpn
— Leo Kearse – on YouTube & GB News (@LeoKearse) June 29, 2025
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