Bob Vylan frontman Bobby Vylan has hit back at British Airways after it pulled its Louis Theroux podcast sponsorship.
At this year’s Glastonbury Festival, the punk duo delivered a controversial performance on the West Holts Stage, using their platform to voice their support for the people of Palestine, call out the Israeli military and criticise the BBC, as well as the UK and US governments.
In the most provocative moment of the set, Vylan told the huge crowd, “have you heard this one?”, before leading a chant of “death, death to the IDF”. It led to a criminal investigation from Avon and Somerset Police, as well as the cancellation of multiple international shows and the revocation of their US visas.
Earlier this week, he gave his first in-depth interview on the subject on The Louis Theroux Podcast, in which he said he was “not regretful” of his remarks at Glasto, adding: “I’d do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays. I’m not regretful of it at all.”
This has since led to British Airways withdrawing its adverts from the podcast, saying that the content breached its sponsorship policy.
Make no mistake, this is a scare tactic. I went on the podcast and as hard as the lobby groups and media tried, they couldn’t twist anything I said. So they have resorted to lobbying for Louis’ sponsorship to be pulled in an attempt to scare others out of giving me a platform. https://t.co/lxmsX0aZlt
— Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) October 26, 2025
Taking to X, earlier today (October 26) Vylan hit back at the move, writing: “Make no mistake, this is a scare tactic. I went on the podcast and as hard as the lobby groups and media tried, they couldn’t twist anything I said. So they have resorted to lobbying for Louis’ sponsorship to be pulled in an attempt to scare others out of giving me a platform.”
In a follow up tweet, he wrote: “They thought they were going to get a dumb angry punk ranting. Instead they got articulate and considered responses to each question with facts to back it up when needed. Their hope to further vilify me couldn’t run, so they target Louis to make an example for sitting with me.
“The lobby groups, the British government and media are determined to make an example of me, all because I dare to want an end to a genocidal occupying force guilty of war crimes.”
The lobby groups, the British government and media are determined to make an example of me, all because I dare to want an end to a genocidal occupying force guilty of war crimes.
— Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) October 26, 2025
Upon removing the sponsorship, a spokesperson for BA said via The Guardian: “Our sponsorship of the series has now been paused and the advert has been removed.”
“We’re grateful that this was brought to our attention, as the content clearly breaches our sponsorship policy in relation to politically sensitive or controversial subject matters,” the statement continued.
“We and our third-party media agency have processes in place to ensure these issues don’t occur and we’re investigating how this happened.”
NME has contacted BA for a response on Bobby Vylan’s latest comments.
In the podcast with Theroux, Vylan said the backlash he had faced was “minimal”, adding: “It’s minimal compared to what people in Palestine are going through. If that can be my contribution and if I can have my Palestinian friends and people that I meet from Palestine that have had to flee, that have lost members in double digits of their family and they can say: ‘Yo, your chant, I love it.’ Or it gave me a breath of fresh air or whatever.”
He also said that he did not want to overstate the importance of the chant. “That’s not what I’m trying to do, but if I have their support, they’re the people that I’m doing it for, they’re the people that I’m being vocal for, then what is there to regret? Oh, because I’ve upset some rightwing politician or some rightwing media?”
Earlier this week, the duo rescheduled their headline shows in Manchester and Leeds “due to political pressure” from MPs and Jewish leaders.
The gigs were originally set to be the first two stops on the London punk-rap duo’s 2025 ‘We Won’t Go Quietly’ UK and Ireland tour. They had been scheduled to perform at Leeds’ O2 Academy on November 4, before heading to Manchester Academy the following night (5).
The duo also recently released their new single, ‘Sick Sad World’, where they called out Prime Minister Keir Starmer and “the BBC’s lies“.
