BURST
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather is calling on the Canadian government to bar the British rap duo Bob Vylan from Canada after the group led the crowd in a chant of death to the Israeli military at the Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom over the weekend.
On Monday, the U.S. State Department said that it had “revoked the U.S. visas” of the band members who performed at the festival in southwest England on Saturday, ahead of several American tour dates in October and November. “Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state wrote on X.
The announcement prompted Housefather, a former special advisor on antisemitism and Jewish community relations under then prime minister Justin Trudeau, to demand the federal government follow suit. Bob Vylan is set to perform in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal in December.
“This is a good decision by the United States,” Housefather wrote on Monday afternoon. “The incitement by Bob Vylan and his band at Glastonbury have no place in North America. I have been in touch with the minister of Public Safety and believe that Mr. Vylan’s actions should render him inadmissible to Canada.”
On Saturday, frontman Bobby Vylan shouted “Free, free Palestine” while on stage, before leading the crowd to chant “Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).”
On social media on Sunday, Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, appeared to stand by his comments. In an Instagram post captioned “I said what I said,” he wrote that he has received “messages of both support and hatred” over his performance.
“Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place,” he wrote.
In an email to National Post Monday afternoon, Housefather said that “Vylan’s conduct in Glastonbury should render him inadmissible for entry and I sent the information on what occurred to the minister (of public safety) and his team.”
The ministry did not respond to the Post’s request for comment in time for publication.
Members of the Conservative Party have echoed Housefather’s call to ban Bob Vylan from entering Canada.
“The U.K.’s Labour government has decried this person’s performance as ‘hate speech,’ and the United States will not allow them entry to do the same,” Conservative NP Michelle Rempel Garner, the MP for Calgary Nose Hill, wrote shortly after Housefather’s initial post, tagging the minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in her message. “I call upon Canada’s government to do the same and deny any requests from this group to enter Canada.”
Garner reiterated her demand after one user commented on her original message with a list of several Canadian tour stops. “They should not be allowed into Canada to spread their hate,” she responded .
Vylan’s comments before a packed crowd filled with Palestinian and Lebanese flags drew the condemnation of the Glastonbury Festival’s organizers and even British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The Labour Party leader said in a written statement, “There is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech,” and said the BBC “needs to explain how these scenes came to be broadcast.” The publicly funded news network has faced allegations of anti-Israel bias in its coverage of the war in the Middle East.
On Monday, the BBC apologized for streaming the event with an on-screen warning and said Vylan’s comments were “utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves.”
The Avon and Somerset Police also issued a statement acknowledging “a criminal investigation is now being undertaken” into Vylan’s comments. “There is absolutely no place in society for hate,” the law enforcement body added. A Northern Irish group, Kneecap, was also listed in the police announcement. The group had its American visa pulled over anti-Israel comments made during a performance at Coachella earlier this year after the band displayed the following message : “F–k Israel/Free Palestine.”
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.