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Allies of Tim Davie fear a mounting list of problems could affect his leadership of the BBC for weeks to come, as Labour continues to press the corporation over its livestreaming of Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance.
Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, is understood to have presented BBC executives with a list of questions about the handling of the event at a meeting on Tuesday. It comes after Bobby Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, one of the punk-rap duo, led chants of “Death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces, on Saturday.
Ministers want to know how the BBC deems an event suitable for a live stream, as well as who has the final say on cutting a feed. Similar questions were also submitted to the broadcaster by the Commons culture select committee.
Davie has come under increased pressure since it emerged he was at the festival on Saturday evening and was informed about the events that unfolded on stage. He decided the performance should not feature in any further BBC coverage, but it remained on the iPlayer service for several hours.
It is understood that there were technical obstacles to removing the content from the platform once it had been broadcast, with no instant way of removing it.
However, those sympathetic to Davie now fear a series of other problems could further destabilise the corporation. Nandy has already turned her fire on the BBC director general, stating that one editorial error was “something that must be gripped. When you have several, it becomes a problem of leadership”.
On Wednesday, Channel 4 will broadcast a documentary about the plight of medics in Gaza that was dropped by the BBC, which said showing the film “risked creating a perception of partiality”. The film has significant support among BBC staff.
Meanwhile, a report on the making of another Gaza documentary is expected within weeks. The BBC pulled the programme How to Survive a Warzone in February after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
It is also awaiting the outcome of an inquiry into allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace. While the investigation has been ordered by Banijay UK, MasterChef’s production company, it could have implications for the BBC.
Wallace’s lawyers have said it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature.
Sources said the BBC board would also be alarmed at the events at Glastonbury and the backlash since. “The danger is not the optics of this single issue, but the three or four things coming down the road,” said a source. “It’s just whether these things get seen through a leadership prism.”
The viewing numbers of the Bob Vylan performance on the live stream were understood to have been low, with the West Holts stage they appeared on experiencing the lowest demand of all five live streams – though the corporation has not given an exact figure. Nevertheless, clips of the performance were soon widely shared on social media.
There has been significant fallout for the band. Avon and Somerset police are investigating their performance, as well as that of Irish rap group Kneecap, who appeared directly after Bob Vylan and led chants of “Free Palestine”. Kneecap’s set was not livestreamed.
Bob Vylan have had their US visas withdrawn ahead of a planned tour. The band said they had been “targeted for speaking up” over Gaza, adding: “Silence is not an option.”
“Today, a good many people would have you believe a punk band is the number one threat to world peace,” they said in a statement online. “We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people.
“[We] are not the story. We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction. The government doesn’t want us to ask why they remain silent in the face of this atrocity? To ask why they aren’t doing more to stop the killing? To feed the starving?”
Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the UK’s chief rabbi, said the event was a “national shame”. He wrote on X: “The airing of vile Jew-hatred at Glastonbury and the BBC’s belated and mishandled response, brings confidence in our national broadcaster’s ability to treat antisemitism seriously to a new low.
“It should trouble all decent people that now, one need only couch their outright incitement to violence and hatred as edgy political commentary, for ordinary people to not only fail to see it for what it is, but also to cheer it, chant it and celebrate it. Toxic Jew-hatred is a threat to our entire society.”
