After British punk rap duo Bob Vylan mocked the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and called for supporters to seek out Zionists in the streets at a Saturday Amsterdam concert, a Dutch venue canceled one of their shows, and prosecutors are reviewing their statements.
During the Saturday Paradiso performance, singer Pascal Robinson-Foster sarcastically dedicated a song to Kirk – who was murdered on Wednesday during a Utah University speaking engagement – describing him as an “absolute piece of s**t of a human being.”
“The pronouns: Was/were,” the Bob Vylan vocalist said, according to a video uploaded by Visegrad 24. “’Cause if you talk s**t you will get banged. Rest in p*ss, Charlie Kirk, you piece of s**t.”
Robinson-Foster later took to Instagram to deny celebrating Kirk’s death during the show – arguing that he had only insulted the Turning Point USA founder.
“Go find me something that proves that we were celebrating his death,” said Robinson-Foster, blaming the outrage on a reporter. “Calm down.”
According to the Netherlands National Coordinator for Combating Antisemitism, at the same concert, Robinson-Foster allegedly derided Zionists and called to “find them in the streets.”
'Intimidating for Jews in the Netherlands'
The national coordinator posted on social media, “This is intimidating for Jews in the Netherlands. Most Jews identify as Zionist in the sense that they believe in the right of existence of a Jewish state. The term Zionist is also regularly used as a dog whistle, while Jews are actually meant.”
“With these statements, Vylan contributes to a climate in which violence is normalized,” the coordinator said on X/Twitter on Monday. “This deserves no platform, this deserves universal condemnation.”
Amsterdam Public Prosecution Service said in a Monday statement that it would review the statements made by the music duo, and then assess whether the statements raise suspicion of a criminal offense. The prosecutor also noted that it had received a high number of reports, with many private persons and organizations indicating that they intended to file charges, but now that the service had begun investigating, this was no longer necessary.
“The fact that so many people have now indicated their intention to file a report demonstrates the high level of concern this case has in the Netherlands,” the public prosecutor said.
In response to the remarks Robinson-Foster made at the Saturday performance, Bob Vylan’s Tuesday Tilburg show was canceled. Vylan’s statements, which included the trivialization of political murder and calls for seeking people in the street, crossed a line for the venue.
“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,” the venue explained in a statement. “They no longer fall within the scope of what we can offer a platform [for].”
013 said that it had decided to let Bob Vylan perform in Tilburg despite the controversy of the June 28 Glastonbury performance, in which the rappers led chants of “Death, death, to the IDF.” The Venue believed that this was not an antisemitic slogan, but criticism of the Israeli army, and could understand “the artist’s anger over the genocidal violence perpetrated by the State of Israel in Gaza.”
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau assured on X Sunday that Bob Vylan’s visas were revoked in response to the mockery of Kirk’s death, to prevent such “grotesque diatribes on American soil.” Landau had previously revoked the punk rap duo’s visas on June 30 in response to the Glastonbury festival incident.
Israeli Ambassador to the Netherlands Avi Vapni noted on social media on Sunday that Bob Vylan’s calls for street violence were reminiscent of the November Amsterdam riots. The November 7 Ajax–Maccabi soccer match riots, in which anti-Israel mobs attacked people across the city and Israeli fans were accused of tearing down Palestinian flags, saw Israelis hunted down in an effort coordinated on WhatsApp groups.