Police have launched a criminal investigation into Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s performances at Glastonbury Festival.
It follows controversial sets by both bands on Saturday on the West Holts stage. Avon and Somerset Police said it had appointed a senior detective to investigate whether comments made by either act amounted to a criminal offence after reviewing footage.
Bob Vylan drew heavy criticism for leading the chants calling for "death" to Israel's military while Kneecap gave a highly-charged performance in which they led a "free Palestine" chant and chants against the Prime Minister.
In a statement on Monday Avon and Somerset Police said: "Video footage and audio from Bob Vylan and Kneecap's performances at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday has been reviewed.
"Following the completion of that assessment process we have decided further inquiries are required and a criminal investigation is now being undertaken. A senior detective has been appointed to lead this investigation.
"This has been recorded as a public order incident at this time while our inquiries are at an early stage. The investigation will be evidence-led and will closely consider all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crimes.
"We have received a large amount of contact in relation to these events from people across the world and recognise the strength of public feeling. There is absolutely no place in society for hate.
"Neighbourhood policing teams are speaking with people in their local communities and key stakeholders to make sure anyone who needs us knows that we are here for them. We hope the work we have carried out, and are continuing to carry out, reassures the public how seriously we are treating Saturday's events.
"We politely ask the public refrain from continuing to report this matter to us because an investigation is already taking place."
In Parliament on Monday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy criticised the “appalling and unacceptable” scenes, adding the government would not tolerate antisemitism, after the comments by Bob Vylan.
Ms Nandy said she had called BBC director general Tim Davie after the broadcast on Saturday to find out why it had aired, and why the feed had not been cut.
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She said: “I expect answers to these questions without delay. I have made that view clear to the BBC leadership and I will of course update the House as soon as I can.”
She continued: “As a Government we strongly support freedom of expression and as Culture Secretary I will robustly defend the independence of our broadcasters, and the right to artistic expression. But we do not accept that incitement to violence, hate speech or antisemitism is art. There is a clear difference between speaking out for Palestine, which is the right of everybody in this House, and everybody in our country, and antisemitism which is not, and will never be.”
Separately Bob Vylan have been blocked from entering the US ahead of the start of their US tour after their visas were revoked by the US State Department, while there are also reports they have been dropped by their talent agency.
The BBC issued a statement on Monday as it came under spiralling pressure over its decision to continue broadcasting the rap dup’s show after rapper Bobby Vylan on Saturday led crowds on the festival's West Holts Stage in chants of “Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)”.
The statement read: “Millions of people tuned in to enjoy Glastonbury this weekend across the BBC's output but one performance within our live streams included comments that were deeply offensive.
“The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence.
“The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury's condemnation of the performance.
“The performance was part of a live stream of the West Holts stage on BBC iPlayer. The judgement on Saturday to issue a warning on screen while streaming online was in line with our editorial guidelines.
“In addition, we took the decision not to make the performance available on demand. The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.
“In light of this weekend, we will look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air.”
Pressure on the BBC ramped up earlier on Monday as skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith and regulator Ofcom stressed that the broadcaster had “questions to answer”.
The former Home Secretary said she absolutely believed that Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set amounted to “incitement to violence”.
She added that it was now down to the police to decide whether it crossed a “criminal” threshold.
“It was appalling,” Baroness Smith told BBC Breakfast.
“It clearly overstepped the mark.
“I’m a bit mystified as to how the BBC continued to broadcast that live while it was happening.
“It should not have been broadcast in the way in which it was.”
Speaking earlier to Times Radio, the minister was asked if the “death” chants crossed a line into inciting violence, to which she responded: "Absolutely, I do.”
Appearing on Sky News, she emphasised: “I think the BBC also have questions to answer about how they continued to broadcast this for the time that they did.”
Sir Keir Starmer has demanded an explanation from the BBC and accused the Corporation of airing “hate speech”.
Meanwhile broadcasting regulator Ofcom said it was “very concerned” about the BBC live stream, adding that the corporation “clearly has questions to answer”.
Bob Vylan’s performance, which was streamed live on iPlayer, led to an apology from the festival organisers, who said they were “appalled” by the remarks.
The PM, who previously called for Kneecap’s Glastonbury invitation to be rescinded, said: “There is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech. I said that Kneecap should not be given a platform and that goes for any other performers making threats or inciting violence.
“The BBC needs to explain how these scenes came to be broadcast.”
The festival added: “We stand against all forms of war and terrorism… there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said what people should be talking about in the context of Israel and Gaza is the humanitarian catastrophe and the fact that Israeli settlers attacked the Christian village of Taybeh this week.
He added: “The fact that we saw that chant at a music festival, when there were Israelis at a similar music festival who were kidnapped, murdered, raped, and in some cases still held captive, whether it’s a Palestinian or an Israeli, whether it’s a Christian, a Jew or a Muslim, all life is precious.
“All life is sacred. And I find it pretty revolting we’ve got to a state in this conflict where you’re supposed to sort of cheer on one side or the other like it’s a football team.”
Asked if the BBC should have cut the live feed, Mr Streeting said the broadcaster has questions to answer, but that he did not know what the editorial and operational “challenges” are of taking such action.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Bob Vylan was “inciting violence and hatred” and should be arrested and prosecuted.
“By broadcasting his vile hatred, the BBC appear to have also broken the law,” he said.
“I call on the Police to urgently investigate and prosecute the BBC as well for broadcasting this. Our national broadcaster should not be transmitting hateful material designed to incite violence and conflict,” he posted on X.
Mr Philp compared the incident to the case of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for 31 months last year for inciting racial hatred after publishing a racist social media post, in the wake of last year’s Southport attack which saw Axel Rudakubana kill three children in a knife rampage.
“He should receive the same treatment under the law as others, such as Lucy Connolly. He should be arrested and prosecuted immediately. A failure to do so would be a clear example of two-tier justice under Sir Keir Starmer,” he said.
Avon and Somerset Police said video evidence would be assessed by officers “to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation”.
On social media, the Israeli Embassy said it was “deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the scenes “grotesque”, writing on X: “Glorifying violence against Jews isn’t edgy. The West is playing with fire if we allow this sort of behaviour to go unchecked.”
The BBC said it showed a warning during the performance and that viewers would not be able to access it on demand.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan’s set were deeply offensive. During this live stream on iPlayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and discriminatory language. We have no plans to make the performance available on demand.”
Kneecap, who hail from Belfast, have also been in the headlines after member Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged under the Terrorism Act for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag and chanting pro-Hamas slogans during a gig in London.
During their Glastonbury gig after Bob Vylan, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, who performs under the name Moglai Bap, said they would “start a riot outside the courts”, before clarifying: “No riots just love and support, and support for Palestine”.
In the run-up to the festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, several politicians called for the group to be removed from the line-up and Sir Keir said their performance would not be “appropriate”.
During the performance, Caireallain said: “The Prime Minister of your country, not mine, said he didn’t want us to play, so f*** Keir Starmer.”
He also said a “big thank you to the Eavis family” and said “they stood strong” amid calls for the organisers to drop them from the line-up.
Both performances came less than two years after the October 7 massacre, when more than 1,200 people were murdered across southern Israel and 251 were taken hostage, including revellers from the Nova music festival.
Israel's response has killed nearly 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials, and destroyed much of the coastal territory.
Danny Cohen, former Director of BBC Television, commented: “This chant was nothing less than incitement to violence against the world’s only Jewish state.
“That something like this might happen could easily have been foreseen by the BBC, and measures could have been taken to prevent its broadcast.”
A spokesman for the Labour Friends of Israel told The Telegraph: “To watch chants at Glastonbury less than two years later calling for incitement to murder is simply disgusting. It shows that, for extremists in the anti-Israel movement, the goal isn’t peace but death and destruction.”
Avon and Somerset Police said: “We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival. Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”
Festival organiser Emily Eavis previously defended her decision to host Kneecap, saying: “There have been a lot of really heated topics this year, but we remain a platform for many, many artists from all over the world and, you know, everyone is welcome here.”
Other Glastonbury acts have voiced their support for Palestine, including British singer Nilufer Yanya and former Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall.