A concert by the British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan has been cancelled after their frontman allegedly called on fans to hunt down “Zionists” and made incendiary remarks about the death of right-wing American influencer Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was fatally shot in the neck last Wednesday while engaging in a debate with students at an event in Utah.
During a gig at Amsterdam’s club Paradiso on Saturday, Bob Vylan’s lead singer Bobby Vylan - whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster - called Kirk “an absolute piece of shit of a human being”.
He added: “The pronouns was/were. Cause if you chat shit you will get banged. Rest in peace Charlie Kirk, you piece of shit.”
According to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the duo went on to shout: “F*** the fascists, f*** the Zionists. Go find them in the streets.”
'These new statements go too far'
The band had been due to perform another concert in the Netherlands this evening at venue 013 in Tilburg, but the organisers decided to cancel the event when the remarks came to light.
In a statement, venue 013 said: “While we understand that these statements were made in the context of punk and activism, and that the reporting on them is sometimes less nuanced than what actually happened, we still believe these new statements go too far. They no longer fall within the scope of what we can offer a platform.”
In response to the decision to cancel the show and the allegations that the band celebrated Kirk’s death, Bobby Vylan said in a video posted on Instagram: “At no point during yesterday’s show was Charlie Kirk’s death celebrated. At no point whatsoever did we celebrate Charlie Kirk’s death.
“I did call him a piece of shit. That much is true. But at no point was his death celebrated. If it was, go find me a quote, go find me something that proves that we were celebrating his death. You’re not gonna find it, because it didn’t happen.
“What did happen is one reporter that bought their ticket online came with the sole purpose of finding something to report and after I called [Kirk] a piece of shit and we played a song, they have written that up as a celebration. It’s not a celebration…calm down.”
Concerns raised by Amsterdam's Jewish community
Chanan Herzberger, chairman of Amsterdam’s Central Jewish Consultation, said the band’s onstage remarks amounted to “a call for another pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam” and “makes society unsafe for the Jewish community”.
In November 2024, a number of Israeli football fans were attacked on the streets of Amsterdam after a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax, giving rise to concerns about rising anti-Semitism in the Netherlands.
Bob Vylan are no strangers to controversy. Earlier this year, the band made headlines for their controversial set at Glastonbury Festival, when they led chants of “death, death to the IDF.” They subsequently had their US visa revoked and were dropped by their agency.
