DUBAI: In his first interview since leading chants against the Israeli Defence Forces in support of Palestine at the Glastonbury music festival, Bobby Vylan, the frontman of UK punk duo Bob Vylan, spoke to The Louis Theroux Podcast about the controversy and its fallout.
Following their performance, the band was dropped by its agency, UTA, and the US State Department revoked the band members’ visas, leading to the cancellation of their planned tour of North America.
But if he had the chance, Vylan says he would do it all again.
“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,” the rapper said.
“The subsequent backlash that I’ve faced. It’s minimal. It’s minimal compared to what people in Palestine are going through. (What) is there to regret? Oh, because I’ve upset some right-wing politician or some right-wing media?”
Vylan told Theroux the backlash was “so disproportionate,” arguing that it turned public attention away from Gaza. “My whole issue with this thing is that the chant is so unimportant,” he said.
“What is important is the conditions that exist to allow that chant to even take place on that stage. And I mean, the conditions that exist in Palestine. Where the Palestinian people are being killed at an alarming rate. Who cares about the chant?”
