The BBC director-general has admitted the corporation could soon face more scandals after those involving MasterChef and antisemitic chanting at Glastonbury.
Tim Davie told a cross-party select committee of MPs that it was “deeply disturbing” that the broadcaster had streamed the punk act Bob Vylan’s set as part of its festival coverage this summer, describing it as a “very significant mistake”.
The BBC faced widespread criticism for failing to cut the live feed when the duo led chants of “death, death to the IDF”, then left the stream accessible for several hours.
Bob Vylan chanted “death, death to the IDF” during their Glastonbury set
YUI MOK/PA
It subsequently emerged that Davie had attended the festival, where he had been made aware of the antisemitic language after the performance had aired.
“I don’t think I misread it. When I heard about it at about five o’clock, the performance was well done and at that point I knew absolutely that it was an antisemitic broadcast,” he said.
“My decision was to get it off on-demand, simple as that. It wasn’t too complicated in my mind — it was deeply disturbing. The BBC made a very significant mistake in broadcasting those words to a broad audience.”
The Labour MP James Frith, a member of the culture, media and sport select committee scrutinising the work of the BBC, asked Davie whether sufficient preparation had been carried out before the performance.
• Bob Vylan hit out at England, Israel and Reform
Frith said: “Any level of due diligence would have seen that they are prolific on matters of race and embrace a degree of anarchic punk. Soft googling would have found some pretty obnoxious stuff.”
Davie said the group was one of seven that had been placed on a “high-risk list” but staff had not recognised the severity of the situation. “You always ask, where does politics stop and start? Where does hate crime begin? All those things are difficult,” he said.
“We had very experienced individuals who have managed a lot of live output over many years who read it as harm and offence and put warnings up, but they didn’t pull the stream. These are well-intentioned people who have worked at the BBC for decades who made a mistake.”
Davie said there would be “proportionate consequences” for those involved as the BBC continues to roll out antisemitism training to staff across the corporation.
• BBC head of music stood down from duties over Bob Vylan broadcast
“I’ve talked to many people who are dealing with security in the Jewish community and it’s horrifying what’s going on. I feel deep empathy,” said Davie. “The BBC’s responsibility to the Jewish community is to make sure we are listening and caring and doing the right things. We care about it desperately.”
He added that it was with a “heavy heart” that the BBC had taken a decision not to live broadcast further performances from acts deemed to be high risk.
“We’ve always embraced live music. We like live. We’ve got decades of delivering it. We might have put a delay on the performance and with the benefit of hindsight I wish had done,” he said.
Davie also faced questions about the BBC’s workplace culture following a series of scandals involving high-profile presenters including disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards, MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace and Match of the Day pundit Jermaine Jenas.
The director general denied that the BBC has a “toxic culture” but warned that there may be more scandals to come.
“We may see more things coming out because in some ways I’m asking for [that to happen]. Being utterly transparent and running towards the problem is what we need to do,” he said.
“Can I give a categoric assurance that I’m never going to have someone abusing their power? No. Culture is ongoing work and we are at a moment in society where we are flushing out the issues and the BBC is in the public eye.”
Davie added that “no-one is irreplaceable” and revealed that bosses across the broadcaster had been asked to consider succession planning around their top shows.
This week the broadcaster announced restaurant critic Grace Dent and Irish chef Anna Haugh will replace Wallace and John Torode as hosts of MasterChef.
Davie defended the decision to air the current series featuring the previous two presenters, who had faced allegations of inappropriate behaviour and language.
“We talked to all of the contestants, we were very sensitive about it. The vast, vast majority wanted the series aired,” he said. “People can choose to watch it or not, so there’s an element of trust in the audience and overall they supported the decision.”