Bob Vylan dropped by UTA as Republicans attempt to ban duo from U.S. after pro-Palestine performance [UPDATE]

Over the weekend, it was reported that the Department of Justice’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism was seeking “to determine what measures are available to address the situation and to prevent the promotion of violent antisemitic rhetoric in the United States” when Bob Vylan tours the United States in the fall. An unnamed senior State Department official told right-wing media outlet The Daily Wire that it is “already looking at revocation” of the group’s visa. “As a reminder, under the Trump Administration, the U.S. government will not issue visas to any foreigner who supports terrorists,” the senior official said. Per Time Magazine, Republican officials have condemned Bob Vylan, including Rep. Randy Fine of Florida who said he would look into rescinding their visas, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who reposted a video of Bob Vylan’s crowd to Twitter/X with the caption, “Truly sick. Thousands of people screaming ‘Death to the IDF.’ This is the base of the Democrat Party.” (Most of the crowd at the U.K. festival were not Americans.) 

Bob Vylan’s set has already been condemned by festival organizers, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and the Israeli embassy in the U.K. The group is also reportedly being investigated by local law enforcement over possible criminal violations. The BBC has apologized for not cutting the live broadcast of Bob Vylan’s set, which it did for the pro-Palestine rap trio Kneecap. Bob Vylan has not apologized, instead releasing a statement standing by their onstage remarks with the caption “I said what I said.”

Glastonbury saw plenty of pro-Palestine sentiment beyond Bob Vylan’s headline-making remarks. In addition to Kneecap (whose member Mo Chara is being investigated on terrorism charges for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a show several months ago), several other acts broadcast their support for Palestinians during their sets. That includes Irish singer songwriter CMAT (who led the crowd in a “Free, free Palestine” chant), Jordan Stephens of Rizzle Kicks (who brought out his mother wearing a keffiyeh and waved the Palestinian flag), Bono’s son Elijah Hewson of Inhaler (who dedicated a song “to the people of Palestine” and “To any innocent people being starved or bombed or genocided for the sake of some lunatics”), Jade Thirlwall of Little Mix (who led her crowd in a call-and-response that included saying, “Justifying genocide? Fuck you”), and Doctor Who‘s Ncuti Gatwa (who introduced Thirlwall in a hoodie from Choose Love, an organization which has been doing activism for Palestine in the U.K.). 

Rock group Amyl and the Sniffers also advocated for Palestine during their set—connecting the struggle of the Palestinian people to the colonization of indigenous people in their native Australia—as well as posting a statement of support for both Bob Vylan and Kneecap on social media after the festival. “The British media in a frenzy about Bob Vylan & Kneecap but artists all weekend at Glastonbury from pop to rock to rap to punk to DJs spoke up onstage & there were tonnes of flags on every streamed set. Trying to make it look like just a couple of isolated incidents and a couple of ‘bad bands’ so it appears the public isn’t as anti genocide as it is, and trying to make it look like Bob and Kneecap are one-offs, instead of that the status quo has shifted majorly and that people are concerned and desperate for our governments to listen,” they wrote (via Clash Music). “And if you don’t want politics in music don’t blame the musicians blame the politicians and journalists, and the political landscape in general, for not doing their job, there’ll just be more [and] more of it until it stops.”