Bob Vylan Broke Rule No. 1
Free speech, outrage and a PR disaster.
There’s an awful lot of mention of “free speech” nowadays in the news and social media. When I was younger, I didn’t really know what it was. I used to think free speech meant that you could say whatever you wanted and not face any consequences—and it seems a lot of people do still think that.
In fairness, you can’t really blame them, as the Oxford Dictionary does actually define free speech as “the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint.”
However, as I’ve gotten older, my perception of what free speech is and its true meaning has changed. I’ve come to realise, particularly in the last couple of years, that free speech is less a principle and more an instrument.
It’s a device used by people with political agendas to divide, and to defend inflammatory rhetorics and opinions. It’s a political weapon. A tool.
The key word there is inflammatory—as the notion of free speech is so often hijacked to pave the way for people to spread hate, or hate speech.
In the wake of the Southport attacks back in July 2024 and the riots that followed, a Twitter/X user named Lucy Connolly wrote a post in response to the unrest:
In October, she was jailed for 31 months for inciting racial hatred, and caused an absolute shitstorm of a free speech debacle.
Whilst there’s plenty to be said on the topic, it’s the developments since her premature release that are really interesting.
She was freed after serving 40% of her sentence, and last week made an appearance at the Reform UK Party Conference, where she was introduced to an adoring, cheering crowd as “Britain’s favourite political prisoner”.
In the same week, Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch posted on X defending her, stating: “Her punishment was harsher than the sentences handed down for bricks thrown at police or actual rioting”.
Then, the BBC reported that she’ll be meeting with some of Trump’s administration during the US President’s state visit on Saturday for reasons unknown.
All of this, by the way, comes as Tommy Robinson organised his “freedom of speech” festival last Saturday, which had an estimated 150,000 people in attendance, named “Unite the Kingdom”.
That’s Reform UK, Trump, Tommy Robinson, even the Tories… is anyone else starting to see a pattern here?
“The right” is an unsatisfying moniker for this collective given that there’s so many layers to the ideology, and “Free speech impostor” is how one Democrat described Nigel Farage during his recent visit to Congress to discuss online regulation and free speech, so perhaps we could go with that.
So, the “impostors” are the champions of free speech, this much we know… and with that in mind, they must be huge fans of British punk rap musicians Bob Vylan, because it’s not just politicians and “political prisoners” who are at the heart of the free speech tug-of-war.
What’s Bob got to do with it?
The duo caused quite the stir at Glastonbury back in June.
They performed in front of a screen that read “The UN calls it genocide, the BBC calls it a conflict”. Lead vocalist, Pascal Robinson-Foster, known as Bobby Vylan, went one step further, creating his own chant “death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israeli Defence Forces in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The performance was widely condemned by politicians, among those the Prime Minister, who described it as “hate speech”, and health secretary Wes Streeting, who said both the BBC and Glastonbury had questions to answer.
Answer them they did: organiser Emily Eavis called the performance “appalling,” whilst the BBC—who had previously pulled Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap over fears of anti-Israel messaging—admitted they should’ve cut the broadcast mid-performance.
The fallout was seismic. The duo went viral, lost festival slots in Manchester and Gisors (France), and had their US visas revoked ahead of a planned tour.
However, parallel with outcry and condemnation often comes a degree of support and solidarity, and Bob Vylan watched their most recent release climb up to number 8 in the Independent Album Charts.
Fast-forward four months, and the duo are evidently still riding the shockwave they caused, determined to live by the mantra that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
The “death to the IDF” chant, now so frequent it may as well have their own place on the setlist rang through Paradiso venue in Amsterdam during Bob Vylan’s live show earlier this week, but were subsequently trivial in comparison to the frontman’s remarks on the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk.
In the video above, Bobby Vylan can be seen mocking the death of the right-wing influencer, who was shot dead on Wednesday afternoon.
“I want to dedicate this next one to an absolute piece of sh*t. The pronouns: was/were. ‘Cause if you chat sh*t, you will get banged. Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk. You piece of sh*t!”
Kirk was a social media influencer and close Trump ally, often credited with being the driving force behind MAGA’s youth vote.
Condemnation, social media backlash, cancelled shows, the “Bobs”, as they refer to themselves in protest against what they deem a surveillance state, must’ve felt a strong sense of Deja vu…
But this time it was different
Rule number one of being controversial is that you’ve got to back yourself up.
They did just as much after Glastonbury, taking to social media and defending their actions with conviction—which has to be respected—but this time it was different.
Bobbie Vylan completely back-pedalled in a video posted to X, in which he denied “celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death”.
“Go and find me something that proves we were celebrating his death. You’re not going to find it. Because it didn’t happen.”
Come on, Bobs. We’ve all seen the video.
I’d argue that the disingenuous denial has undermined not only the band’s views, but the band’s image, too. It’s pernicious, as they’ve built their image on being unapologetic, and in playing the damage limitations game, they’ve ditched their fearlessness bravado and have come across as weak and dishonest.
The denial is one thing, but the tone is something else entirely. It feels like a calculated spin.
What’s curious, though, is that Bob Vylan haven’t played the free speech card. Instead of dodging accountability through claiming they’re exercising their human right, they just straight up lied and gaslit everyone who has seen the footage.
A punk band built on raw honesty can’t quite get away with that, and ironically, in trying to avoid sounding like the very people they loathe and deplore, they might’ve stumbled into something worse.
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