The United States said Monday it was revoking visas for the British punk-rap group Bob Vylan, which led a chant at the Glastonbury festival calling for death to the Israeli military.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said that the United States 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,” he posted on X.
President Donald Trump’s administration has aggressively revoked visas, mostly of students, over anti-Israel activism.
Bob Vylan, a London-based duo combining punk riffs and hip-hop delivery whose lyricism often tackles racism, led a chant of “Death to the IDF,” the initials of the Israel Defense Forces, at the celebrated music festival.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the group’s “appalling hate speech” and the BBC apologized for not pulling a livestream.
The controversy comes after a protracted dispute over another act at Glastonbury, politically charged Belfast hip-hop group Kneecap, who sharply criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza when performing in April at the Coachella festival in California.
Glastonbury rebuffed pressure, including from Starmer, to remove Kneecap from the roster but the BBC did not stream Kneecap’s performance.
Both Kneecap and Bob Vylan, who also played Coachella, had dates scheduled for later this year in the United States.
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© Agence France-Presse
