The BBC cut Irish trio Kneecap from the broadcaster’s live coverage of the Glastonbury music festival Saturday after the group began chanting “F–k Keir Starmer,” a reference to the British Prime Minister, during their set.
The news was shared by Puck News reporter Julia Alexander, who noted on X, “Fascinating media story. BBC cuts live stream, says VOD will be available (which of course allows for edits). Comes just a couple of days after the UK’s current culture minister suggested she didn’t want to see it, while noting she couldn’t exert control one way or another.”
As Alexander also noted, “That move then leads people to stream on TikTok, picking up hundreds of thousands of views (likely even more).”
The broadcaster also came under fire after musical act Bob Vylan led the crowd, many of whom were waving Palestinian flags, in chants of “death to the IDF,” the Telegraph reported. Bob Vylan performed directly ahead of Kneecap.
“We strongly condemn the threatening comments made by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury,” a spokesperson for Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary for the U.K., said. “The Culture Secretary has spoken to the BBC director-general to seek an urgent explanation about what due diligence it carried out ahead of the Bob Vylan performance, and welcomes the decision not to re-broadcast it on BBC iPlayer.”
The Guardian reported Kneecap kicked off the group’s set by chanting, “F–k Keir Starmer!” after Starmer said June 21 that allowing the band to perform at the festival was “not appropriate.”
In November, the group’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who is also known as Mo Chara, was charged with a terror-related offense after holding a Hezbollah flag at a London show.
“We understand colonialism and we understand how important it is to support each other internationally,” Ó hAnnaidh, who was clad in a Palestinian keffiyeh, said. Of the more than 200 Palestinian flags being waved in the crowd, he added, “The BBC editor is going to have some job.”
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