THE BBC has put out a grovelling statement saying it “should have pulled” Bob Vylan’s controversial Glastonbury performance.

The broadcaster said the set contained “utterly unacceptable” and “antisemitic sentiments” – but still failed to apologise for choosing not to cut the feed.

The live stream of the punk rap act’s set ran for another 40 minutes despite the offensive slurs against Israel during the incident on Saturday afternoon.

However, a warning was displayed on screen and the footage was later removed from the iPlayer.

Rapper – and one of half of the duo – Bobby Vylan chanted “death to the IDF” and also declared “from the river to the sea Palestine…will be free” – a slogan seen by many in the Jewish community as calling for Israel’s elimination.

It comes as shadow home secretary Chris Philp called for the rapper to be “arrested and prosecuted immediately”, calling it an example to the two-tier justice system.

Mr Philp has called for him to be treated in a similar fashion to Lucy Connolly, the Tory councillor’s wife who was jailed for tweets in the aftermath of the Southport murders last summer – and still remains behind bars.

Prior to the BBC’s statement, broadcast regulator Ofcom, which is conducting its own probe, said it was “very concerned” by the performance, adding: “The BBC clearly has questions to answer.”

While last night PM Sir Keir Starmer demanded an explanation from director-general Tim Davie, saying: “There is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech.”

The Beeb’s statement said: “Millions of people tuned in to enjoy Glastonbury this weekend across the BBC’s output but one performance within our live streams included comments that were deeply offensive.

“The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence.

“The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves.

“We welcome Glastonbury’s condemnation of the performance.

“The performance was part of a live stream of the West Holts stage on BBC iPlayer.

“The judgement on Saturday to issue a warning on screen while streaming online was in line with our editorial guidelines.

“In addition, we took the decision not to make the performance available on demand.

“The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.

“In light of this weekend, we will look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air.”