Fury as ‘biased’ BBC airs footage of rapper yelling ‘f**k Nigel Farage’ at Reading Festival

THE BBC has come under fire for airing footage of a rapper shouting “f*** Nigel Farage” at Reading Festival. Loyle Carner – who was one of the festival’s biggest acts – delivered his foul-mouthed performance on Sunday. The BBC has aired footage of a rapper Loyle Carner shouting ‘f*** Nigel Farage” at Reading Festival Credit: BBC The footage was uploaded to the broadcaster’s BBC iPlayer Credit: BBC About halfway through his set, the 31-year-old rapped the line “f*** Nigel Farage and free Palestine” before laughing and covering his mouth. The Beeb then uploaded the 53-minute set to BBC iPlayer alongside two warnings for “strong language” and “discriminatory language”. Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter Thank you! However, there is no prior warning on the BBC’s website about references to Mr Farage. Viewers subsequently flocked to social media to vent their fury and blasted the BBC as “biased”. About halfway through his set, the 31-year-old rapped the line ‘f*** Nigel Farage’ Credit: Alamy The BBC said all content was within their editorial guidelines and audience expectations Credit: Alamy One said: “We shouldn’t be forced to pay money to this biased corporation simply because we want to watch live television. “They must be forced to become an independent subscription broadcaster.” Another added: “Remind me why I have to pay for these BBC c****ns?” The BBC said in a statement: “The BBC provided extensive coverage of Reading Festival across the weekend, featuring performances from a wide range of artists.” Most read in Showbiz They pointed towards the festival being a third-party event and that they had included warnings on their website. All content was within their editorial guidelines and audience expectations, they added. It’s not the first time Carner has targeted Mr Farage either, after taking aim at the Reform UK leader at Glastonbury last year. During that set, he also set his sights on JK Rowling during his song “Horcrux” – a reference to the Harry Potter series. It comes after the BBC apologised last year for broadcasting Bob Vylan’s appearance at Glastonbury Credit: Getty The Beeb told how Bob Vylan were assessed as ‘high risk’ before their performance at Glastonbury Credit: Getty He rapped at the time: “This song is called Horcrux “cause I love Harry Potter. But I don’t really like JK Rowling, do you know what I mean?”. The British hip-hop musician, whose full name is Benjamin Gerrard Coyle-Larner, has released four albums, two of which have been nominated for a Mercury Prize. He also criticised Mr Farage on the red carpet at the Brit Awards earlier this year and wore a shirt in 2019 which said “I Hate Boris” during his Glastonbury set, telling the crowd “f*** that guy”. It comes after the BBC apologised last year for broadcasting Bob Vylan’s appearance at Glastonbury. The broadcaster’s chairman Samir Shah admitted that the decision to continue streaming the pro-Palestine punk duo following their ‘death to the IDF’ chant was an “error of judgement”. The Beeb told how Bob Vylan were assessed as “high risk” before their performance at Glastonbury but were “deemed suitable for live streaming with appropriate mitigations”. It was later found that the BBC had breached its own standards for airing the hateful set. The broadcaster later said controversial hip-hop group Kneecap’s Glastonbury set would not be shown live before making an on-demand version available.