Bob Vylan have had their U.S. visas revoked by the Trump administration after the English punk duo’s frontman, who goes as Bobby Vylan, led a chant of “Death, death to the IDF” at the Glastonbury festival on Saturday, June 28, CNN reports. The duo had already come under fire from the British prime minster, Keir Starmer; Glastonbury organizers; and the BBC, which has apologized for livestreaming the chant aimed at the Israeli Defense Forces. British police are investigating whether their comments amount to a criminal act, BBC News notes.
Bob Vylan have long been vocal supporters of Palestine, particularly in light of the Israeli military’s continued assault on Gaza and the West Bank. A backdrop to the duo’s set read messages such as: “United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a ‘conflict.’” On stage, Bobby Vylan told the crowd, “Sometimes we have to get our message across with violence because that’s the only language some people speak, unfortunately.” He later responded to the controversy on Instagram, citing a responsibility to teach “children to speak up for the change they want and need.” He added, “Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered.”
Bob Vylan had been due to tour the United States in October and November; those dates, naturally, are in jeopardy. Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, wrote on X that the state department had “revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants. Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country.” Bob Vylan have also been dropped by United Talent Agency.
Glastonbury organizers posted on social media that they were “appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan.” Dozens of other artists made pro-Palestinian remarks at the festival, and Palestinian flags were a fixture among the crowds, as Amyl and the Sniffers noted in a statement defending Bob Vylan and Kneecap. But Bob Vylan’s chants “very much crossed a line,” according to Glastonbury, whose organizers—along with several British politicians and the BBC—have presented the group’s criticism of the Israeli military as antisemitic.
British police are also investigating Kneecap for their Glastonbury set, though it has not been specified what part of the show is under scrutiny; Keir Starmer had called for the group to be pulled from the Glastonbury lineup in advance. In a rare break from custom, the BBC, which airs continuous footage from Glastonbury’s main stages, refused to broadcast Kneecap’s set, but later uploaded a largely unedited stream of the show to its iPlayer platform. Kneecap band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, better known as Mo Chara, recently appeared in court on a terror charge relating to the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag during a 2024 concert.
