British Airways stop Louis Theroux podcast sponsorship after Bob Vylan interview

By Lauren Del Fabbro, PA Entertainment Reporter

British Airways have paused their sponsorship of the Louis Theroux podcast following an interview with Bob Vylan’s frontman.

The punk duo made headlines this summer after leading chants of “death, death to the IDF” (Israel Defence Forces) during their BBC livestreamed performance at Glastonbury Festival.

Frontman Bobby Vylan, also known as Pascal Robinson-Foster, appeared on The Louis Theroux Podcast in an episode which aired earlier this week and said that he was “not regretful” of the chant and would “do it again tomorrow”.

British Airways has since paused its advertising on the podcast and said that the content “breaches” its sponsorship policy, the Jewish News first reported.

A BA spokesperson told the PA news agency: “Our sponsorship of the series has now been paused and the advert has been removed.

“We’re grateful that this was brought to our attention, as the content clearly breaches our sponsorship policy in relation to politically sensitive or controversial subject matters.

“We and our third-party media agency have processes in place to ensure these issues don’t occur and we’re investigating how this happened.”

Following their performance in June, Avon and Somerset police launched an investigation into the group who were later dropped by a number of festivals and performances including Radar festival, a show at a German music venue and their US tour after their visas were revoked.

They recently also had to postpone two UK gigs over “political pressure” including a show in Manchester following calls by Jewish leaders and MPs for it to be cancelled.

Despite the criticism the group has also seen support from fans new and old with their album Humble As The Sun re-entering the charts over the summer, climbing to number one in the UK Hip Hop and R&B album charts, and subsequent announcement of their We Won’t Go Quietly 2025 UK tour.

When asked by Theroux if Vylan stands by the chant and if he would do it again, he said: “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.

“I’m not regretful of it at all, like the subsequent backlash that I’ve faced. It’s minimal.

“It’s minimal compared to what people in Palestine are going through.

“If that can be my contribution and if I can have my Palestinian friends and people that I meet from Palestine, that have had to flee, that have lost members in double digits of their family and they can say, yo, your chant, I love it. Or it gave me a breath of fresh air or whatever.”

Louis Theroux has been contacted for comment.