Bob Vylan calls British Airways’ drop of Theroux sponsorship a ‘scare tactic’

Punk singer Bobby Vylan, who called for "death" to the Israeli army, said pro-Israeli lobby groups were trying to silence him after a UK airline dropped its sponsorship of Louis Theroux’s podcast following his interview.

On Saturday, British Airways said it had withdrawn its adverts from the podcast after Vylan’s appearance.

Vylan, the frontman of Bob Vylan, described the move as a “scare tactic” intended to deter others from giving him a platform.

“Make no mistake, this is a scare tactic,” he said on Sunday. “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.”

Earlier this year, Vylan courted controversy after leading the chant "death, death, to the Israel Defense Forces" during his set at the Glastonbury Festival, which the BBC live-streamed. 

The incident led several festivals to drop the band from their line-ups, including the Radar Festival in Manchester, a show at a German music venue and the cancellation of their US tour after the US State Department revoked their visas.

Speaking for the first time since the incident, Vylan said he remained unapologetic for leading the chant.

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“I’m not regretful of it. I’d do it again tomorrow – twice on Sundays,” he said. 

“The subsequent backlash... is 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.

“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 right-wing politician or some right-wing media?”

Theroux's podcast episode with Vylan was recorded in October.

Following the interview, British Airways told the Press Association that the podcast's content broke its sponsorship policy. 

"Our sponsorship of the series has now been paused and the advert has been removed," said a British Airways spokesperson. 

"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.

"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."