Cutting the Bob Vylan Glastonbury livestream was an “option open to those on the ground,” the BBC has said for the first time.
Director General Tim Davie answered several questions put to him by the UK’s Culture, Media & Sport Committee (CMSC), which included addressing the long-running question of whether it would have been possible to pull the live feed of Bob Vylan, who could be seen on the BBC for several hours both live and on-demand chanting “Death to the IDF” and complaining about “working for a “f***ing Zionist.” A warning sign flashed up but the livestream from the West Holts stage was not immediately taken down by any means, raising questions and engulfing Davie and the BBC in scandal. Punk duo Bob Vylan are now being investigated by police and have had their U.S. visas revoked.
Davie today said “there were individuals present at Glastonbury who had the authority to cut the livestream after appropriate consideration.” “Those individuals had access to advice and support offsite should they have considered it necessary,” he added. “What we can say is that cutting the livestream was an option open to those on the ground on the day.”
The BBC is revamping its live events editorial guidelines and, according to The Times, music boss Lorna Clarke has stepped back from her role.
Davie said there were 550 people working for the BBC at Glastonbury, where controversial Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap were also performing but had their set shown on iPlayer after it had taken place rather than Bob Vylan. Of those, 328 were working for BBC Studios, 187 for BBC public service and 35 for BBC News.
He reiterated previous points made about how Bob Vylan were deemed high risk prior to Glastonbury but it was only Kneecap whose feed was not shown live. These decisions were made two weeks prior to music fest, Davie said today. A new edition of the BBC’s editorial guidelines around live events will publish September 1, he added, which was already in the works but will be “reviewed further in light of these events and any changes.”
The CMSC via committee chair Caroline Dinenage had reached out to Davie in the wake of the Bob Vylan scandal, which caused a huge backlash.
Davie’s answers dropped on the same day as long-awaited reviews into Gregg Wallace and the Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone documentary.
