Police share update as man interviewed over Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set

Police share update as man interviewed over Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set

A man in his 30s has been interviewed by police over comments made on stage during a performance by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury Festival this year.

  • READ MORE: Bob Vylan: “We’ve been screaming about these topics at the top of our lungs for years. Why has it taken this long?”

Avon and Somerset Police said (via BBC) that the man had voluntarily attended an interview with officers on Monday (November 10).

During the punk-rap duo’s set on Glastonbury’s West Holts Stage on June 28, they voiced their support for the people of Palestine, called out the Israeli military and criticised the BBC, as well as the UK and US governments.

At one point in the set, frontman Bobby Vylan asked the crowd, “Have you heard this one?” before leading a chant of “Death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces].

It led to a criminal investigation from Avon and Somerset Police, while multiple international shows were cancelled, and their US visas were revoked ahead of a tour in the country. Two UK shows, in Manchester and Leeds, have also been postponed until next year.

The police force added: “The matter has been recorded as a public order incident while we continue to investigate and consider all relevant legislation,” and said that they’d received legal advice about the investigation from the Crown Prosecution Service last month.

They described voluntary interviews as being “commonly used in investigations where an individual agrees to attend and an arrest is not considered necessary” and continued: “Attendees are interviewed under caution and have the same legal rights as anybody who is arrested.”

Bob Vylan are playing O2 Forum Kentish Town in London tonight (November 11) as part of their ‘We Won’t Go Quietly’ UK tour, and on X (Twitter) earlier, the Metropolitan Police said it was imposing Public Order Act conditions to prevent “serious disruption and serious disorder” ahead of the show, and that it was aware of two protests in the area that were planned for the same time.

Last week, meanwhile, the duo were awarded “substantial damages” after defamatory claims about a “Nazi salute” occurring at one of their gigs last month were published.

Rahman Lowe Solicitors announced on Friday (November 7) that they had also secured a full apology as well as substantial damages on behalf of Bobby following the publication of an article by Reach plc, publishers of the Manchester Evening News.

Reach plc has published a full correction and apology and agreed to pay legal costs and has undertaken not to repeat the allegation.

And last month, Bobby gave his first in-depth interview on the Glastonbury controversy, appearing on The Louis Theroux Podcast. When asked whether he’d still lead the same chant on stage, he said, “Oh yeah. Like what if I was to go on Glastonbury again tomorrow, yes I would do it again. I’m not regretful of it. I’d do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays. I’m not regretful of it at all.”

After the interview, British Airways pulled its sponsorship of the podcast, saying that the content breached its sponsorship policy. Bobby replied, writing on X, “Make no mistake, this is a scare tactic. I went on the podcast and as hard as the lobby groups and media tried, they couldn’t twist anything I said. So they have resorted to lobbying for Louis’ sponsorship to be pulled in an attempt to scare others out of giving me a platform.”

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