The frontman of Bob Vylan warned his fans to stop chanting against the Israeli military during the duo’s first UK gig since the band’s Glastonbury festival performance.
Pascal Robinson-Foster, who goes by the name Bobby Vylan, told fans at a sold-out surprise gig in London on Wednesday night they could get him in “trouble” after police launched an investigation into the group over comments he made at Glastonbury.
The 34-year-old led chants of “death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces, and spoke of working for a “fucking Zionist” during their show on the West Holts stage at the Somerset festival on 28 June. Bob Vylan issued a statement last week claiming they were being “targeted for speaking up”.
It came before the Belfast trio Kneecap’s appearance on the same stage. Both bands are being investigated by Avon and Somerset police over remarks made during their concerts.
At Bob Vylan’s intimate concert at the 100 Club on Wednesday night, some fans started to repeat the Glastonbury chant of “death, death to the IDF”.
Robinson-Foster responded by saying “you are going to get me in trouble, apparently every other chant is fine but yous [sic] will get me in trouble” before leading the crowd in chants of “Free, free Palestine”.
The duo ended the gig by holding up the Palestinian flag as Robinson-Foster said: “We are a loving band, we love you lot for being here with us. We love the Palestinian people.”
After their Glastonbury set, it emerged that the group were already being investigated by the Met police regarding alleged comments made at a gig in London in May, with a video showing Robinson-Foster appearing to say: “Death to every single IDF soldier out there as an agent of terror for Israel. Death to the IDF.”
Since then they have reportedly been dropped by their agency, United Talent Agency (UTA), which appears to have removed the group from their website, and have also been pulled from a number of concerts – including their US tour after having their visas revoked.
Despite the criticism the group have re-entered the charts, with their album, Humble as the Sun, climbing to No 1 in the UK hip-hop and R&B album charts. The group are expected to perform at the Boardmasters surfing and music festival in Newquay, Cornwall, in August.
