Thom Yorke reveals ‘heavy’ mental health toll after walking off stage during Melbourne show over silence on Gaza

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has revealed his mental health suffered a heavy blow after he stormed offstage during a solo show in Melbourne last October when he was heckled by a pro-Palestine protester.

Yorke on Saturday posted an eight-page statement on Instagram about the war in Gaza, saying he remained in shock that his “supposed silence” was perceived by some as complicity with Israel. In the post he also called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu an extremist.

Thom Yorke performing at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl last year.Credit: Martin Philbey

Footage filmed of the fiery exchange on October 31, taken by a member of the audience during the encore of Yorke’s second show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, showed a man in the crowd yelling about the “Israeli genocide of Gaza” and the devastating death toll.

Yorke responded: “Hop up on the f---ing stage and say what you wanna say. Don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. You want to piss on everybody’s night? OK, you do it, see you later then.”

The audience member screamed, in part, “How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?”

In the statement, the musician directly addressed the incident, saying “some guy shouting at me from the dark last year … didn’t really seem like the best moment to discuss the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.”

Yorke said his silence had been an attempt to show respect for all those who were suffering and those who had died during the conflict.

However, he said this had allowed “opportunistic groups to use intimidation and defamation to fill in the blanks”.

“I regret giving them this chance,” Yorke said. “This has had a heavy toll on my mental health.”

The rock star added that Netanyahu and his Israeli administration were “extremists” who “need to be stopped”, and he condemned Hamas for “choosing to hide behind the suffering of its people”.

“I think Netanyahu and his crew of extremists are totally out of control and need to be stopped, and that the international community should put all the pressure it can on them to cease,” Yorke wrote.

“Their excuse of self-defence has long since worn thin and has been replaced by a transparent desire to take control of Gaza and the West Bank permanently.”

“I believe this ultra-nationalist administration has hidden itself behind a terrified and grieving people and used them to deflect any criticism, using that fear and grief to further their ultra-nationalist agenda with terrible consequences, as we see now with the horrific blockade of aid to Gaza.”

Yorke, who had already played for two hours at the sold-out Melbourne gig when the incident occurred last year, took his guitar off and walked off the stage.

The crowd was booing loudly before chanting for Yorke, who returned a couple of minutes later and played Radiohead hit Karma Police.

The musician said in his statement it was “self-evident” from his music that he “could not possibly support any form of extremism or dehumanisation of others.”

“Why did Hamas choose the truly horrific acts of October 7th? The answer seems obvious, and I believe Hamas chooses to hide behind the suffering of its people, in an equally cynical fashion for their own purposes,” he wrote.

The musician has come under scrutiny in the past over his decision to continue performing in Israel.

Radiohead faced criticism in 2017 for proceeding with a concert in Tel Aviv despite calls for them to boycott Israel as part of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.

At the time, Yorke addressed the backlash on X writing, “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government. We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America.”

In May, Yorke’s bandmate Jonny Greenwood was also called out for playing a show in Tel Aviv with Israeli artist Dudu Tassa, with the pro-Palestine BDS movement accusing him of “artwashing genocide”.

In a statement issued after the performance, BDS wrote, “We call for peaceful, creative pressure on his band Radiohead to convincingly distance itself from this blatant complicity in the crime of crimes, or face grassroots measures.”

Greenwood said calls to boycott the work of Israeli Jewish artists “feels unprogressive”, adding, “no art is as ‘important’ as stopping all the death and suffering around us. How can it be? But doing nothing seems a worse option. And silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel doesn’t seem like any way to reach an understanding between the two sides of this apparently endless conflict.”

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