*Opinion piece*
Last night, Bob Vylan’s show took place in the heart of Amsterdam in the iconic venue Paradiso. This show, as well as two other shows on Dutch soil were announced after the chant “Death to the IDF” that Vylan spewed at the Glastonbury Festival earlier this summer.
The chant went viral, and many media figures debated, discussed and responded to it in either disgust or awe. It is no surprise that the band had raging success afterwards, and had demand so high that they announced three shows in The Netherlands. Tonight, the band will be playing in Doornroosje, Nijmegen, while the show in Poppodium 013 for tomorrow has since been cancelled.
The reason for the cancellation were the remarks that Bob Vylan made last night addressing a roaring crowd of 1500 fans, where he once again chanted “Death to the IDF”, but also talked about the brutal murder of political commentator Charlie Kirk in a horrid manner. Among other thing,s he told Kirk to “rest in piss”, as well as said “I want to dedicate this next one to an absolute piece of sht, pronouns was/were, if you chat sht, you get banged”.
Last but not least, Vylan also denounced people that he claims are fascists and urges his fans in the crowd to “find them outside”, I suppose to have a constructive dialogue about one’s beliefs.
These clips have since gone viral, with many media outlets and figures commenting on the colourful commentary of the rising artist, again. As a result, Poppodium 013 announced they are no longer hosting the band’s performance, while Doornroosje stuck to their guns and shared in a statement this morning that the show is going forward as planned.
Both Doornroosje and Poppodium 013 are (partly) responsible for the programming that they do for their venue, unlike bigger venues like Amsterdam’s AFAS Live and Ziggo Dome, where the promoter is often MOJO, Greenhouse Talent or Friendly Fire. As a result, the venues also function as promoters for the shows, and are therefore in charge of their cancellation or continuation.
While many people online are livid and horrified by Vylan’s remarks, one could argue he did not incite violence, barely but surely colouring within the lines of what is deemed to be freedom of speech. Earlier today, a judge confirmed so, after a Jewish organisation tried to stop the band from performing in Nijmegen tonight.
It is my humble opinion that a cancellation of Vylan’s performance has nothing, or at least very little, to do with freedom of speech but rather with decency. I cannot and will not speak for the good people at Poppodium 013 but they did share the reason for the cancellation was the statements Vylan made in Paradiso and decided those statements to be unworthy of a civilised society such as ours. As the venue also functions as the promoter of the show, they have decided to cancel, resulting in a very mixed response. A portion of the population says 013 have done the right thing, while a different portion is calling them ‘weak’ and ‘spineless’ for forfeiting due to online backlash.
The venue in Nijmegen, Doornroosje, has a different view. The venue released a statement earlier today, in which they claim that Vylan’s outbursts are within the rights of freedom of speech and therefore let his show go on as scheduled. As is, according to the judge, within their rights.
The question remains, even within the important rights that protect our democracy, do we want a society where political deaths are being celebrated and people are being demonised for their views, even if they differ from your own? In addition, do we want prominent voices that share rhetoric like this amplified on a stage? Doornroosje says yes, Poppodium 013 says no.
“The Purpose of Propaganda is to make one set of people forget that other sets of people are human” – Aldous Huxley
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