Bob Vylan frontman Bobby Vylan has said he is “not regretful” about chanting “death, death to the IDF” at Glastonbury Festival and added he would “do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays," The Guardian reported.

The British punk duo sparked widespread controversy in June after leading a chant condemning the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the atrocities committed by Israeli occupation forces. The performance drew condemnation from both Glastonbury organizers and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called it “appalling hate speech.”

Following the incident, Bob Vylan was dropped by its agency UTA, and the US State Department revoked the band members’ visas, forcing the cancellation of a North American tour.

'I’d do it again tomorrow'

In his first interview since Glastonbury, on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Vylan (real name Pascal Robinson-Foster) confirmed he would repeat the chant if given the chance.

“Oh yeah. Like what if I was to go on Glastonbury again tomorrow, yes I would do it again. I’m not regretful of it. I’d do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays,” he stressed.

Vylan downplayed the backlash compared to the suffering in Palestine, saying, “I don’t want to overstate the importance of the chant… 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?”

Vylan said he was surprised by the public reaction, noting that BBC staff at Glastonbury praised the set as “fantastic". The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) later found the broadcast breached editorial standards regarding harm and offense.

Vylan recalled, “It wasn’t like we came off stage, and everybody was like [gasps]. It’s just normal… Even staff at the BBC were like ‘That was fantastic! We loved that!’”

Criticism from Damon Albarn

Vylan also responded to Damon Albarn of Blur, who described the chant as “one of the most spectacular misfires I’ve seen in my life” and likened the band to “goose-stepping in tennis gear.”

Vylan said Albarn’s reaction was “disappointing” and “lacked self-awareness", adding, “I just want to say that categorizing it as a ‘spectacular misfire’ implies that somehow the politics of the band or our stance on Palestinian liberation is not thought out. I take great issue with the phrase ‘goose-stepping’ being used because it’s only used around Nazi Germany… For him to use that language, I think is disgusting.”

When asked about the chant itself, Vylan said it was “unimportant” compared to the conditions in Palestine. “What is important is the conditions that exist to allow that chant to even take place on that stage… Where the Palestinian people are being killed at an alarming rate. Who cares about the chant?”

He also explained the choice of wording: “‘Death, Death to IDF’ rhymes. Perfect chant… ‘End, End the IDF’ does not rhyme, wouldn’t have caught on, would it?”

Rejecting claims of antisemitic impact

Vylan denied that the chant contributed to a "spike in antisemitic incidents" reported two days later, as claimed by the Community Security Trust (CST). “I don’t think I have created an unsafe atmosphere for the Jewish community… If there were large numbers of people going out and going like ‘Bob Vylan made me do this’, I might go, oof, I’ve had a negative impact here.”

Vylan also suggested that the band faced harsher criticism than other pro-Palestine artists, such as the Irish band Kneecap. “As with everything, race comes to play a part in that we are an easier villain, no pun intended, than they are because we are already the enemy.”

Read more: Kneecap stands strong amid Coachella backlash over Palestine