LBC presenter James O’Brien has slammed the outrage over Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury chant, pointing out the stark contrast in media coverage compared to Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.
The rap-punk duo sparked headlines after leading a chant of “death to the IDF” during their set last Saturday. Since then, they’ve lost their talent agency, had US visas revoked, and been placed under police investigation—alongside Irish group Kneecap.
But O’Brien is asking the question many are now echoing: why has this story eclipsed the real horrors still unfolding in the Middle East?
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🎤 ‘More anger at rappers than war crimes’
On his Monday LBC show, O’Brien didn’t hold back. “How can people profess to be more offended by an idiot rapper shouting bilge from a stage in Somerset,” he said, “than they are by the continuing carnage in Gaza?”
He described the backlash as part of a broader issue of “double standards and hypocrisy” that many Brits are struggling to understand.
O’Brien highlighted that an Israeli cabinet minister recently called for “every Palestinian man in Gaza to be killed” – a call he labelled genocidal.
“He’s literally calling for a genocide,” he said. “This isn’t whataboutery. This is speaking to the double standards and hypocrisy.”
At the same time as the media pounced on Bob Vylan, at least 20 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a beachfront café. But coverage of that massacre was minimal in comparison.
📰 Daily deaths, barely covered
The UN says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed while queuing for aid in Gaza, with daily casualties continuing to mount.
But as O’Brien put it, Glastonbury’s rap controversy is receiving more UK headlines than almost any recent atrocity in the region.
“It’s extraordinary when you stop to think about it,” he said.
You can watch it below:
OMG this is the best ever speaking James O'Brien ever made. He says what happens in Gaza is 17,000,000 times worse than what happened in Glastonbury pic.twitter.com/5rQc9HmlCy
