A NUMBER of senior staff have been told by the BBC to "step back" from their day-to-day duties on music and live events following the broadcasting of Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set.
The BBC confirmed on Thursday that a “small number” of senior staff have been asked to “step back” from their daily duties after the punk duo led a chant of “death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)” during their performance, which was streamed live on iPlayer.
In a statement, the broadcaster said there was “no place for antisemitism” from its output, and that it was taking action to “ensure proper accountability for those found to be responsible” for live streaming the performance.
The BBC also said it will no longer broadcast or live stream performances it deems “high risk”.
The broadcaster said it was wrong to believe the punk duo Bob Vylan were “suitable for live streaming with appropriate mitigations” for their performance at the Glastonbury Festival last week.
The BBC added it would make “immediate changes to livestreaming music events”, so that “any music performances deemed high risk by the BBC will now not be broadcast live or streamed live” in the future.
Meanwhile, the corporation's chair, Samir Shah, said the decision not to pull the live feed was “unquestionably an error of judgement”.
The statement said: “During the performance, the live stream was monitored in line with the agreed compliance protocols and a number of issues were escalated. Warnings appeared on the stream on two occasions and the editorial team took the decision not to cut the feed. This was an error.
“Given the failings that have been acknowledged we are taking actions to ensure proper accountability for those found to be responsible for those failings in the live broadcast. We will not comment further on those processes at this time.
“Furthermore, as a result we will make immediate changes to live streaming music events.
“Any music performances deemed high risk will now not be broadcast live or streamed live.”
The BBC said the team on duty prioritised stopping the performance from becoming available on demand, meaning that the set would not appear separately on iPlayer or BBC Sounds.
However, the live feed remained available for more than four hours, which meant viewers were able to rewind and view the content.
Avon and Somerset police have launched an investigation into the comments made during the group’s West Holts Stage set.
It has since emerged that the group were already under investigation by police for comments made at a concert one month before Glastonbury.
Video footage appears to show Bobby Vylan at Alexandra Palace telling crowds: “Death to every single IDF soldier out there as an agent of terror for Israel. Death to the IDF.”
The rap group issued a statement on Tuesday claiming they were being “targeted for speaking up” after Avon and Somerset police began its investigation.
