\n<\/p>\n
\n\tEarlier this summer, during London rap duo\u00a0Bob Vylan<\/a>\u2018s\u00a0performance at Glastonbury Festival<\/a> in England, rapper Bobby Vylan led the massive crowd in chants<\/a> of \u201cFree, free Palestine<\/a>,\u201d as well as \u201cDeath, death to the IDF [Israel<\/a> Defense Forces].\u201d The chant led to fierce backlash, resulting in Prime Minister Starmer saying at the time, \u201cThere is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech,\u201d and the incident prompted a police investigation<\/a>. The U.S. State Department also\u00a0revoked the duo\u2019s U.S. visas<\/a> ahead of their fall tour. The group was also dropped<\/a> from\u00a0Radar Festival\u00a0<\/a>and France\u2019s Kave Fest.<\/p>\n \n\tVylan later defended his onstage remarks in a Instagram post captioned, \u201cI said what I said.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe rapper joined The Louis Theroux Podcast<\/a><\/em> on Oct. 1 \u2014 before news of a cease-fire<\/a> deal in Gaza<\/a> broke on Oct. 9 \u2014 at a studio in Central London to further discuss what happened during the controversial gig and the socio-political ramifications that took place after. The episode airs this week.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen asked by Theroux if he still stood by the chant and would repeat it onstage now, Vylan replied: \u201cOh yeah. Like what if I was to go on Glastonbury again tomorrow, yes I would do it again. I\u2019m not regretful of it. I\u2019d do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe artist continued, \u201cI\u2019m not regretful of it at all, like the subsequent backlash that I\u2019ve faced. It\u2019s minimal. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tVylan added, \u201cI don\u2019t want to overstate the importance of the chant. That\u2019s not what I\u2019m trying to do, but if I have their support, they\u2019re the people that I\u2019m doing it for, they\u2019re the people that I\u2019m being vocal for, then what is there to regret. Oh, because I\u2019ve upset some right-wing politician or some right-wing media?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tElsewhere in the interview, the podcast host addressed the word choice behind the chant, saying, \u201cWhat does it mean in your view, because you are saying the people who take from that, if you see an IDF soldier, kill him. There were many commentators who would\u2019ve put that interpretation on it.\u201d Theroux then asked, \u201cSo, I\u2019m inviting you to give your version of what that means \u2026 can you see how some people might have seen it the other way?\u201d<\/p>\n