KATIE HIND: Corporation sent 500 staff to Glastonbury – and not one acted as Bob Vylan shouted ‘death to the IDF’

The BBC sent around 500 staff to Glastonbury – yet punk act Bob Vylan’s tirade of hate against Israel shown live on its airwaves was not brought to an immediate halt.

As the corporation is now set to be reprimanded, chiefs will have to explain why not one of its vast number of employees taken to the festival at the licence fee payers’ expense pulled the broadcast of the London-based duo.

The staff range from junior producers right through to executives across its vast number of platforms, from BBC1 to Radio 1Xtra to its Asian network.

Beeb sources say that getting on to the team to cover Glastonbury is seen as a ‘huge privilege’ and the ‘opportunity to have a jolly’.

Following the BBC’s apology yesterday, in which it conceded that Bob Vylan should have been taken off air, some of those employees may now face questioning as the corporation attempts to establish why the broadcast was allowed to continue.

While they are yet to launch an inquiry, its most senior chiefs are already looking at what went wrong. One BBC insider told the Mail: ‘It was clear quite early on in Bob Vylan’s performance that there was going to be some issues. The second Bobby Vylan [the band’s singer] described music industry executives… as Zionists, it was clear there was a hate problem coming.

‘Yet it was allowed to get worse. There were so many people working for the BBC at Glastonbury, so why wasn’t it dealt with immediately?

‘Instead, it has caused the BBC a massive headache but also left its viewers extremely disappointed.

The BBC apologised yesterday, conceding that Bob Vylan should have been taken off air

BBC chiefs will have to explain why not one of its staff pulled the broadcast. Pictured: Tim Davie, Director-General of the BBC

‘Many are already at the point of cancelling their television licences.’

In 2023, the BBC briefed that it takes around 500 employees to the Somerset festival, though sources insist it is many more than that.

Some have been known to stay at local four and five-star hotels at the licence fee payers’ expense.

A BBC spokesman said: ‘The number of accredited workers, such as specialist technical and camera crew, producers and presenters, reflects what is required to ensure the quality and breadth of coverage audiences expect from the BBC, which includes over 90 hours of performances from the five main stages, the Glastonbury Channel on BBC iPlayer, and extensive coverage on TV, radio and BBC Sounds.’