#725 Politics shouldn't be allowed at festivals (preview)
TODAY: The BBC refuses to broadcast Kneecap's Glastonbury set... and instead gets hit with the old "Death to the IDF" by noise rap band Bob Vylan We discuss the band's statements, their music, the Glastonbury festival, and most importantly, what average BBC viewers are saying. Is it antisemtic to oppose a military killing thousands of women and children? Either way is it distasteful to drag politics into music? Will zionists ever be able to stop the wave of anti-Israel sentiment sweeping the globe? Get a bonus episode every week by signing up at http://patreon.com/miniondeathcult for only $5/month Music: Labrini Girls - Cuntology 101
Quote, with almost 4,000 performances at Glastonbury 2025, are you fucking 4,000 performances?
What the fuck?
How do you even do that?
Well, it is like a it's like a two-day festival.
I mean, still, how many stages?
What the fuck?
They must be counting like all like the campsite DJs.
I guess, dude.
Maybe they're talking about the performances we all put on when we appear in public.
Wow, everyone, everyone who put a mask on before they came in.
There will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose views we do not share, and a performer's presence here should never be seen as a tacit endorsement of their opinions and beliefs, said a statement on the Instagram accounts of the Glastonbury Festival and Emily Evis, one of the festival's organizers on Sunday.
However, we are appalled by the statements made from the Westholtz stage by Bob Villen yesterday.
The statement added, their chants very much crossed a line, and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for anti-Semitism, bing, bing, bing, hate speech, or incitement to violence.
What is the fear here?
People are going to get on a plane and go over to Palestine and Israel and go kill IDF members?
Like, what do you think is going to happen here?
I mean, they think what's going to happen is what's already happening, which is Israelis are getting fucking shouted out of stores.
They're getting not served in restaurants.
They're getting heckled when they land.
Like, it is happening, you know?
Nobody's actually, to my knowledge, you know, actually killed any members of the IDF, like outside of these actual, quote, war zones or whatever.
But I guess that is what they would be afraid of.
But it's like they're a military.
I don't know.
They're like a body that exists to do violence.
So like, I don't know.
It seems like one of the most appropriate objects of this kind of violent rhetoric.
Like they're doing the violence for real.
It's not exactly there's a surprise that there's a response of the very least rhetorical violence.
Even like, even like police aren't necessarily like signing up to hypothetically die, but in a war, you are.
Like in the military, you are.
Like this is not a wild, a wild stretch of thought.
The band members cannot be reached for comment on Sunday, on Instagram, and Saturday night.
The band's lead singer, Bobby Villan, posted a selfie with a cup of ice cream captioned, while Zionists are crying on socials, I've just had late night vegan ice cream.
Yes.
It's vegan too, Tony.
Wow.
Fuck yeah.
Oh man, maybe got a new, maybe we got a new crush.
Is there a but I wonder if they have songs about animal liberation, dude?
Not yet, maybe not yet, but we will, I hope.
The next month, the police in Britain charged Mochara, one of the band's rappers, with oh, this is NECAP, sorry.
In April, NECAP lost its U.S. visa sponsor after making anti-Israel statements at Coachella.
The next month, the police in Britain charged Mochara, one of the band's rappers with a terrorism offense for displaying the flag of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia on stage at a London show last November.
And it's funny because, yeah, like Hezbollah is like a legitimate organization.
They're like a legitimate fighting force that does represent the people of Lebanon.
But it's like they just decided, the West just decided, well, they're terrorists because they're on the opposite side of us.
They're terrorists.
Therefore, you're supporting terrorism by saying cool, like saying cool to them or whatever.
If we didn't buy their weapons like directly, then it's different, you know?
Like they, I know we, we, they're using weapons that we probably paid for, but they didn't buy them like directly from us.
So it's different, you know?
And I want, I want mecap to be a testament for everybody.
Like, um, just know that if you like do the right thing and like stand for what's right, you can do huge things with mediocre music.
Not a fan, huh?
I mean, you know, I wanted to be, but you knew I couldn't be.
Like, I support them.
I think it's cool.
I think it fucking rules.
I'm happy people like them.
Not for me.
Okay.
And that, you know, it's okay.
Not everything has to be for you, Tony.
But it's okay because I can co-sign them because they're doing the right thing.
They're standing for the right thing.
And they're actually about it.
They're actually putting their livelihood on the line for something.
Even though I'm not a huge fan of music, I'm happy people like them.
I'm happy they're finding success.
Right.
You don't necessarily not listen to the band, but you are clocking that they're standing on business.
Exactly.
So if your band sucks or whatever, if you're doing the right thing, I still fuck with you.
Right.
Unless it's a pun band name.
Unless it's a pun band name.
And then it's a case-by-case basis.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It means like you say if it's a plan if it's a pun band name you better have black people in the band Uh Do-do-do um Several festivals and venues dropped the band Kneecap from their lineups at BBC.
It said previously that it would cut off its traditional Glastonbury live streaming for Kneecap's performance on Saturday, but it did broadcast Bob Villain's performance live.
During the show, dozens in the crowd waved Palestinian flags.
Quote, you know this is live on the BBC, so we have to be careful what we say, Mr. Villan said during the set on Saturday.
The punk duo is known for political songs with lyrics to touch on issues including racism, poverty, and toxic masculinity.
He went on to chat, chant several pro-Palestinian messages and voice support for, quote, our mates in kneecap.
He led the crowd in a chant of free, free Palestine before pivoting into a separate phrase.
AI, but have you heard this one though?
The singer said, death, death to the IDF.
Comments in support of Palestinians are common from Glastonbury stages, but the chant was unusual and fewer fans chanted along than to other declarations.
I don't know about that.
I heard a lot of people chanting death to the IFF.
A lot of people chanting about that.
Yeah, yeah.
The band is scheduled to go on a U.S. tour this fall.
Again, I don't know if that's going to happen with dates scheduled across the country.
As of Sunday, those dates remained on the band's website.
I think, quote, I think the BBC and Glastonbury Have got questions to be answered about how we saw such a spectacle on our screens.
Wes streeting, Britain's health secretary, told Sky News on Sunday.
He called the comments a quote shameless publicity stunt, which I like that.
That's like the last line in this article.
And I really like that that's how it's being described.
It's like, yeah, they're trying to publicize the genocide that's going on in Gaza.
And they did it without shame.
That's great.
Yeah.
That's, yeah, you fucking nailed it.
It is funny because like, yeah, the BBC is kind of being held capable for not having like a 30-second delay.
Good.
Well, I mean, they show like tits and stuff on the BBC.
Come on.
Like, that's just their culture over there.
I like that you're equating tits with death.
Wow.
I see tits and I think, I think of life.
Death to the IDF.
Yeah.
When I see death to the IDF, I also think of life.
