Until last weekend, Bob Vylan were not a household name. I admit that I had never heard of the rap group before. If you’d have asked me, I’d have said he’s a very famous folk-rock star whose name has been misspelt on the publicity material for Glastonbury. 

But that really doesn’t matter – because I’m not producing the BBC television coverage of the festival. And whoever was in charge on Saturday should have made it their mission to know everything about all the acts that were going to be featured.

Too many managers shy away from hard decisions, such as calling out poor behaviour and challenging sub-par performance

BBC editors and managers at Glastonbury should have done assiduous homework on Bob Vylan’s previous performances and public statements and assessed the risks of transmitting the act ‘live’. Had they decided that the risks were manageable, they should have had a clear understanding of what lines could not be crossed and what they would do if they were crossed, or about to be crossed. 

The events that followed – when the band’s singer led the crowd in chants of ‘death, death to the IDF’ (Israel Defence Forces), and made other deeply anti-Semitic and offensive comments – have once again torn a hole in the BBC’s reputation. 

Some have claimed that what happened was another example of the corporation’s bias against Israel and its blinkered approach to anti-Jewish hate.........

© The Spectator