The BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, has offered to meet Jewish staff to discuss their concerns after telling them he was appalled by “deeply offensive” comments made during Bob Vylan’s performance at Glastonbury festival.
In the first comments from Davie since the BBC said it regretted not pulling the live stream of the punk duo’s set, he said it must have been “challenging the last few days” for Jewish colleagues at the corporation.
It comes after Bobby Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, led chants of “Death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces, at Glastonbury on Saturday.
The BBC initially placed a warning on screen for viewers, but later said it regretted not intervening by pulling the live stream. Davie was at the festival in the hours after the set and ordered the content not to feature in any further BBC coverage, but technical issues meant it remained on the iPlayer for several hours.
In an email to the BBC’s Jewish staff network, he said he appreciated “how deeply upset and concerned you must feel about the actions of Bob Vylan on Saturday”.
“I was, and remain, appalled by Bob Vylan’s deeply offensive and totally unacceptable behaviour during his Glastonbury set,” he said. “It has no place on the BBC. Also, I understand the strength of feeling in relation to the events of this weekend and other concerns from colleagues.
“Let me be clear, there is absolutely no place for antisemitism at the BBC. We are all utterly committed to creating an environment where everyone is supported and can do their very best work.”
Davie has come under pressure over the BBC’s coverage of the Middle East from several angles. He is also facing criticism for failing to show a documentary about medics in Gaza, with more than 100 BBC staff anonymously signing a letter criticising the decision. Channel 4 will broadcast the documentary on Wednesday night.
The government has applied significant pressure on Davie over the Bob Vylan set. The BBC has been handed a series of questions by ministers and the culture select committee about what due diligence was done on the band before Glastonbury.
It has since emerged that a month before the festival, vocalist Robinson-Foster allegedly made similar comments at Alexandra Palace, where the band were supporting Iggy Pop. He reportedly said on stage: “Death to every single IDF soldier out there, as an agent of terror for Israel. Death to the IDF.”
On Wednesday evening the Metropolitan police said that officers were investigating comments allegedly made at a concert on 28 May. It was not clear when the investigation was launched.
Since Glastonbury, the band have said they have been “targeted for speaking up” over Gaza. “We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people,” they said. “[We] are not the story. We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction.
“The government doesn’t want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity? To ask why they aren’t doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?”
