The United States has revoked visas for members of Britain’s Bob Vylan punk-rap duo after they led chants throughout their set on the Glastonbury music competition in England over the weekend that the State Department and the BBC, who broadcast the occasion, mentioned had been antisemitic.
“The @StateDept has revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants. Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau mentioned in a put up on X on Monday.
On Monday, the BBC mentioned it regretted not stopping its livestream of Saturday’s occasion, and police mentioned they’d launched a prison investigation. Bob Vylan’s set included on-stage chants of “death, death to the IDF,” a reference to the Israel Defense Forces preventing a battle in Gaza, and “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be, will be, inshallah, it will be free.” That phrase is commonly taken in Israel as a name for Israel’s destruction and denial of its proper to exist, though many Palestinians dispute that characterization.
Bob Vylan, recognized for mixing grime and punk rock, sort out a variety of points together with racism, homophobia and the category divide of their songs and have beforehand voiced assist for Palestinians.
Their lead vocalist, who goes by the stage identify Bobby Vylan, appeared to check with the weekend efficiency in a put up on Instagram, writing: “I said what I said.”
“Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place,” he added.
The State Department didn’t instantly give extra particulars as to the names of those that had visas revoked and what sort of visas they had been. Bob Vylan are scheduled to play some live shows within the U.S. in November.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce instructed reporters at a daily news briefing that the incident violated the usual for whom the U.S. desires to let into the nation.
“If they’re going to be coming here to be helpful, to be nice people, to be great tourists, or if they’re coming for other reasons … every sovereign nation has a right to decide who is going to come,” Bruce mentioned.
“It really is about our standards about who we let in the country. We’re not telling people what they can sing about or what they can say… It really is about the issue of national security, about issues of violence, the increase, certainly, of antisemitism, but of terrorism in general.”
© Thomson Reuters 2025.