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Punk duo frontman Bobby Vylan has expressed he is "without regret" about his "death, death to the IDF" act at Glastonbury and declared he would "repeat it tomorrow, twice on Sundays."

Controversial Chant and Political Responses

The outspoken punk pair ignited widespread debate when they led crowd chants of "down with the IDF," referring to the Israel Defense Forces, during their summer performance. This chant was censured by Glastonbury and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who described it as "appalling hate speech."

After the event, Bob Vylan was dropped by its representation UTA, and the US government revoked the members' travel documents, compelling the duo to cancel a planned North American tour.

Conversation with Louis Theroux

In his first interview since the festival performance, Vylan, whose birth name is Pascal Foster, spoke on The Louis Theroux Podcast. After questioned if he would repeat his actions, he responded:

"Absolutely. For instance what if I was to go on the festival again tomorrow, yes I would do it again. I'm not regretful of it. I'd do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays."

The artist noted that the backlash the band faced was "minimal compared to what people in Palestine are going through."

Regarding the Protest's Importance

"I don't want to overstate the importance of the slogan," he elaborated. "It isn't what I'm attempting to do, but if I have their support, they're the individuals that I'm advocating for, they're the people that I'm being vocal for, then what is there to feel sorry about? Oh, because I've angered some conservative politician or some rightwing media?"

Unexpected Response and Broadcaster Feedback

The artist claimed he was taken aback by the uproar triggered by the exclamation, and asserted that staff of the broadcaster employees at Glastonbury told him on the day that the performance was "excellent."

However, the broadcaster's ECU later found that the BBC's broadcast of the performance breached editorial guidelines in relation to offense and hurt.

He told Theroux there was no indication of a dispute in the moment: "It didn't feel like we came off stage, and everybody was like [shocked]. It felt normal. We come off stage. It was normal. Nobody thought anything. Not a soul. Including crew at the BBC were like 'It was fantastic! We enjoyed that!'"

Response to Blur Frontman

The musician also hit back at Damon Albarn, who called the protest "a major misstep I've seen in my life" and described Vylan as "marching in tennis gear."

His reaction was "disappointing" and "showed no self-awareness," Vylan said.

"I need to say that categorising it as a 'spectacular misfire' implies that somehow the views of the duo or our position on Palestine's freedom is not thought out," he explained.

"I strongly object with the term 'marching' being used because it's typically associated around Nazi Germany," he added. "Precisely. And for him to use that wording, I think is disgusting. I think his answer was disgusting."

Intent Behind the Chant

When questioned what he meant by the phrase "Down with the IDF," the artist said the slogan itself was "unimportant."

"The key issue is the conditions that persist to permit that protest to even take place on that platform. And I mean, the circumstances that exist in Palestine. In which the local population are being slain at an alarming rate. What matters about the chant?" he said.

"The phrase rhymes," he noted: "'End, End the IDF does not rhyme, wouldn't have caught on, right? … We are there to entertain. We are there to play music. I am a songwriter. 'The chant' rhymes. Perfect chant."

Rejection of Antisemitism Claims

Vylan also rejected claims from the Community Security Trust, a watchdog and Jewish community safety group, that their performance contributed to a rise in antisemitic incidents reported two days.

"I believe I have created an unsafe atmosphere for the Jewish people. Suppose there were many individuals of individuals acting and going like 'We made me do this'. I might go, oh, I've had a bad effect here," he said.

Contrast with Different Artists

As he said he thought the duo had been targeted more severely than others for voicing views about the conflict, Theroux brought up the Irish band another band, who have also encountered backlash for their method to pro-Palestine advocacy.

"That's an interesting one," he said, "because as with everything ethnicity comes to play a part in that we are an more convenient target, no pun intended, than they are because we are already the enemy."