Bob Vylan are suing Irish broadcaster RTÉ for defamation over a news report it aired about their Glastonbury performance, which claimed that the punk duo had instigated an “antisemitic chant”.
While the band admits that some elements of their Glastonbury set - such as chanting “death, death, to the IDF” - were “politically charged”, they insist nothing was “antisemitic in nature”.
Yet, a statement from the duo’s lawyers at Phoenix Law explains, during an RTÉ News broadcast on 28 Jun, “comments were made alleging that the lead singer of Bob Vylan led antisemitic chants”. These allegations, the law firm insists, “are categorically denied by our clients and are entirely untrue”.
Bob Vylan have courted plenty of controversy, of course, for their outspoken support of Palestine and criticism of Israel, including in relation their BBC broadcast Glastonbury performance.
During that set frontman Bobby Vylan, real name Pascal Robinson, instigated the “death to the IDF” chant, referencing the Israel Defense Forces, as well as declaring that “from the river to the sea, Palestine must be - will be - free”.
Many critics have accused Robinson of making antisemitic statements on-stage. In its formal review of the Glastonbury performance, the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit concluded that, when Robinson’s on-stage statements were taken together, his set could be “fairly characterised as antisemitic”.
However, Darragh Mackin from Phoenix Law insists that there is “a fundamental distinction between speaking critically about the role of the Israeli state forces and being antisemitic. The former is speech within the confines of political expression, whereas the latter is a form of hatred directed towards Jewish people”.
That was also the conclusion of the Dutch Public Prosecution Service after it received complaints about a Bob Vylan show in Amsterdam, where Robinson repeated the “death to the IDF” chant, and also declared “fuck the Zionists - get out there and fight them”.
Dutch prosecutors said that, while Robinson’s statements could be “perceived as provocative and harsh”, they did not “constitute group defamation” or an “incitement to hatred or discrimination”.
In the UK, police in both London and Somerset have launched investigations into whether any of Bob Vylan’s on-stage statements constitute a criminal offence. London’s Metropolitan Police announced last month that they don’t intend to take any action in relation to a London show, while Avon And Somerset Police say their inquiries into the Glastonbury performance are ongoing.
Bob Vylan’s lawyers have sent out a number of legal letters in recent months. One went to the Manchester Evening News, which subsequently issued an apology for its incorrect claims that the duo had “performed Nazi salutes on stage”.
However, according to Phoenix Law, RTÉ has failed to “address the harm caused” by its Glastonbury report since contact was made with the broadcaster, hence the legal action in Ireland’s High Court.
