Police in Somerset say they are assessing comments made on stage by rap punk duo Bob Vylan and Irish-language rap group Kneecap at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday.
The government has “strongly condemned” chants from Bob Vylan who called for “death” to the Israeli military during their performance which was broadcast live on the BBC.
Rapper Bobby Vylan led chants of “free, free Palestine” and “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]”.
A BBC spokesperson said some of the comments were “deeply offensive”, adding it had issued a warning on screen about “very strong and discriminatory language”. The set will not be available to rewatch on BBC iPlayer.
The Israeli Embassy posted on the social media site X that it was “deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric”.
The festival said in a statement: “Glastonbury Festival does not condone hate speech or incitement to violence of any kind from its performers.”
After Bob Vylan’s performance, a government spokesperson said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had spoken to BBC director general Tim Davie to seek an “urgent explanation about what due diligence” the broadcaster carried out ahead of airing the act.
The government added that it welcomed the decision not to re-broadcast the performance on BBC iPlayer.
Bob Vylan’s set on the festival’s West Holts stage came ahead of Kneecap who have made headlines in recent months after rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offence.
He is accused of displaying the flag of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig last year. He has denied the charge.
Following sets from Bob Vylan and Kneecap, Avon and Somerset Police said it would review footage of comments made by acts on the West Holts stage.
The force said footage “will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation”.
Kneecap’s highly-charged performance on Saturday was watched by thousands and hit back at Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with expletive-laden chants, after he previously called the band’s Glastonbury appearance “not appropriate”.
Mr Ó hAnnaidh is on bail after a court hearing in London two weeks ago.