The lead singer of Bob Vylan has stated he is "without regret" about his "death, death to the IDF" performance at the festival and declared he would "do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays."
The outspoken punk duo sparked significant controversy when they led crowd calls of "death, death to the IDF," pointing to the Israel Defense Forces, during their June set. This slogan was condemned by festival organizers and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who described it as "appalling hate speech."
After the incident, the band was dropped by its representation United Talent Agency, and the US state department cancelled the members' travel documents, forcing them to cancel a scheduled North American tour.
During his initial public discussion after the festival show, the musician, whose birth name is Pascal Foster, spoke on a popular podcast. When asked if he would repeat his actions, he responded:
"Oh yeah. For instance suppose I was to go on the festival again tomorrow, definitely I would do it again. I'm without regret of it. I'd say it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays."
He added that the backlash the duo encountered was "small compared to what individuals in Gaza are experiencing."
"I aim not to overstate the importance of the slogan," he elaborated. "That's not what I'm trying to do, but if I have the Palestinian people's support, these are the people that I'm doing it for, these are the people that I'm speaking up for, then what is there to regret? Well, because I've upset some rightwing official or some conservative media?"
The musician claimed he was surprised by the outcry sparked by the exclamation, and stated that staff of the broadcaster staff at Glastonbury told him on the same day that the set was "fantastic."
However, the broadcaster's ECU later determined that the network's airing of the performance violated content standards in regard to harm and hurt.
He told the host there was no indication of a dispute in the immediate aftermath: "It wasn't like we came off stage, and everybody was like [gasps]. It felt normal. We leave stage. It's normal. No one thought anything. Not a soul. Including crew at the BBC were like 'It was fantastic! We loved that!'"
The musician also responded at Damon Albarn, who labeled the protest "one of the most spectacular misfires I've seen in my life" and characterized Vylan as "marching in sport gear."
Albarn's comment was "letdown" and "showed no self-awareness," Vylan said.
"I just want to say that categorising it as a 'spectacular misfire' suggests that somehow the views of the duo or our position on Palestine's freedom is unplanned," he stated.
"I take great issue with the phrase 'marching' being used because it's typically associated around the Nazis," he continued. "Precisely. And for him to use that language, I think is disgusting. I think his response was appalling."
When asked what he meant by the phrase "Down with the IDF," the artist clarified the slogan itself was "insignificant."
"The key issue is the conditions that persist to allow that chant to even take place on that platform. And I mean, the conditions that exist in Palestine. In which the local people are being killed at an alarming rate. Who cares about the slogan?" he stated.
"Death to the IDF rhymes," he noted: "'End, End the IDF does not rhyme, wouldn't have caught on, right? … We are there to perform. We are there to sing songs. I am a songwriter. 'The chant' rhymes. Perfect chant."
Vylan also denied assertions from the CST, a monitoring and Jewish community safety organisation, that their set led to a spike in antisemitic incidents reported later.
"I don't think I have caused an unsafe environment for the Jewish community. Suppose there were many individuals of individuals going out and going like 'We made me do this'. I could go, oof, I've had a bad impact here," he said.
As he said he thought the band had been targeted more severely than different artists for speaking about the conflict, Theroux brought up the Ireland-based group another band, who have likewise faced criticism for their approach to pro-Palestinian messaging.
"That's a notable point," he said, "because as with everything ethnicity comes to play a part in that we are an easier villain, no pun intended, than they are because we are inherently the opponent."
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