LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s BBC said it regretted not stopping the livestream of punk-rap duo Bob Vylan’s set at Glastonbury after the performance included chants against the Israeli military, drawing condemnation from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The BBC has come under fire for allowing the performance to be shown live on Saturday as a Bob Vylan member led the crowd in chanting “death, death to the IDF,” a reference to the Israel Defense Forces, following chants of “free, free Palestine.”
The BBC, which broadcasts the festival in southwest England, issued a warning on screen while the set was being streamed online, but said on Monday it should have gone further.
The comments were “utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves,” the national broadcaster said in a statement.
“The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance,” the BBC added. “We regret this did not happen.”
The BBC said it would look at its guidance around live events so that in future its teams were clear on what is acceptable content to be shown.
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar and Sarah Young, editing by William James)
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