Roe v Wade: Fans question BBC ‘censoring’ Olivia Rodrigo and Lily Allen’s protest song at Glastonbury

Glastonbury fans have criticised the BBC for leaving a protest song by Olivia Rodrigo and Lily Allen about the overturning of Roe v Wade in the US out of its highlights coverage.

On Friday (24 June), the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of a Mississippi law that outlaws abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy while also overturning key precedents established by the 1973 decision in Roe v Wade.

During her Glastonbury set on Saturday evening (25 June), Rodrigo joined stars including Phoebe Bridgers and Billie Eilish to speak out against the ruling.

Through her performance on the Other Stage, the “drivers license” singer brought out special guest Allen for a rendition of Allen’s 2009 hit “F*** You”.

Introducing the song, Rodrigo said: “I’m devestated and terrified [by the recent ruling] and so many women and girls are going to die because of this and I wanted to dedicate this next song to the five members of the Supreme Court who showed us at the end of the day they truly don’t give a s*** about freedom.”

Standing next to Rodrigo, Allen was seen giving the middle finger.

“We hate you guys!” said Rodrigo, before the pair launched into the expletive-filled track.

Twitter users early Sunday morning (26 June) pointed out the BBC’s decision not to include the song in its coverage of the highlights of the festival, with some expressing newfound respect for Rodrigo and Allen, and others questioning the BBC’s decision to edit out the “era-defining” moment.

“Olivia Rodrigo swearing on BBC One... she’s for the people,” one fan wrote, with another adding, “The BBC trying to censor #OliviaRodrigo at glasto and failing miserably is the funniest thing to me.”

“I kind of get why @bbcglasto couldn’t really broadcast a song called ‘F*** You’ on BBC One at 7.45pm,” one person tweeted, “But it seems it meant we missed a guest appearance by Lily Allen and a rather glorious speech by Olivia Rodrigo about Roe v Wade and SCOTUS...”

Amid the criticism of the BBC, some fans pointed out that the full clip of Rodrigo and Allen singing “F*** You” at Glastonbury had been posted to YouTube.

At the time of writing, the video on BBC Music’s channel had earned over 45,000 views since it was posted early Sunday morning.

For all the updates from Glastonbury, follow The Independent’s liveblog here.