Glastonbury and the BBC: time for a change?

Furore over Bob Vylan broadcast could 'mark the end' for streaming the festival live

Bobby Vylan crowdsurfing at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival
'Shocking editorial failure': live feed of chants by singer Bobby Vylan should have been cut, say BBC insiders
(Image credit: Leon Neal / Getty Images)

"Death, death to the IDF." The broadcasting of the incendiary chant by hip-hop punk duo Bob Vylan at the Glastonbury Festival on Saturday has thrown the BBC into turmoil.

Many are asking how the set went out live without any editorial oversight or intervention and then remained available to watch on iPlayer for five hours before it was taken down. There's "a feeling" that the incident might very well "mark the end of Glastonbury as televisual experience", said Nick Hilton in The i Paper.

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