Reach has apologised and will pay £16,000 in damages to Bob Vylan frontman Pascal Robinson after the Manchester Evening News wrongly reported he had “performed Nazi salutes on stage”.
The article, published on 6 October, reported that Jewish leaders and MPs were “deeply concerned” by a planned Bob Vylan gig in Manchester, which has since been postponed.
Punk-rap duo Bob Vylan have been the subject of controversy since they led chants of “death, death to the IDF”, “free, free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine… will be free” at Glastonbury in June.
[Read more: Mail on Sunday Bob Vylan ‘death to Israelis’ splash ‘not misleading’, IPSO says]
The MEN quoted the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester as saying “the band have mocked the murder of Charlie Kirk, performed Nazi salutes on stage and spoken about finding ‘Zionists in the streets'”.
In fact Bob Vylan start their gigs with what their solicitors Rahman Lowe described as “a guided light stretching and meditation routine” that involves them raising their left arms to the sky as a sun salutation while placing their right hand over their heart.
The solicitors said: “The movement is performed while facing each of the four corners of the room, symbolically connecting with the entire audience. It bears no resemblance in form, intention, or context to any fascist salute.”
The MEN article remains live but has removed the section about “Nazi salutes” from the quote.
A correction published separately states: “The band’s singer, Pascal Robinson, has informed us – and we accept – that the gesture in question was in fact a sun salutation… We are happy to correct the record and apologise to Mr Robinson, and Bob Vylan, for the error.” The apology was also published on X (formerly Twitter).
Zillur Rahman of Rahman Lowe said: “This was an extremely serious and damaging allegation, falsely suggesting that an artist whose entire career is rooted in anti-racism and social justice was performing a Nazi salute. In fact, our client merely drew attention to the genocide in Gaza, at a time when many ignored the crimes of the IDF.
“We are pleased that Reach plc has now accepted this was untrue, publicly corrected the record, apologised to our client, and paid substantial damages.”
Robinson said: “To have something rooted in mindfulness, peace and connection distorted into a symbol of hate was both painful and outrageous… The truth matters, and we’re glad it’s now been recognised.”
The Mail on Sunday was last month found not to be in breach of the Editors’ Code by press regulator IPSO after summarising Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury chants in its front page headline as “death to Israelis”.
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