Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke clashes with pro-Palestine protester at Melbourne gig
‘Don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it’: Thom Yorke left the stage during his Melbourne concert after a protester interrupted to voice opposition to the Gaza war.
Thom Yorke, the frontman of Radiohead and The Smile, walked off stage during a solo performance at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on Wednesday night after an audience member interrupted the show to protest the war in the Middle East.
The incident occurred during the encore of Yorke’s second sold-out show when a man began shouting, “How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?”
Yorke responded by challenging the protester, saying, “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.” He then removed his guitar and left the stage.
The audience reacted with boos and began chanting for Yorke to ignore the protester and return, which he did a few minutes later to perform Radiohead’s 1997 hit Karma Police.
Yorke and Radiohead have faced criticism in the past regarding their decision to perform in Israel.
In 2017, the band went ahead with a concert in Tel Aviv despite calls for a boycott from the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. At the time, Yorke defended the band’s decision, stating, “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government.
“We don’t endorse [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any more than Trump.”
Radiohead has faced increased scrutiny amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, following Hamas’ attack on October 7 and the subsequent conflict in Gaza.
In May, Jonny Greenwood, the Oscar-nominated composer and lead guitarist of Radiohead, faced backlash for a performance in Tel Aviv in May, with critics accusing him of “artwashing genocide”.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the BDS movement, called 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 responded that calls to boycott Israeli artists could hinder dialogue and understanding between the two sides of the conflict.
The following month, Greenwood defended his involvement in a musical project with the Israeli musician Dudu Tassa, and spoke out against “silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel”.
Notably, Australian artist Nick Cave has also faced criticism for his performances in Israel. In 2017, he called the cultural boycott of Israel “cowardly and shameful” after playing two concerts in Tel Aviv with his band, the Bad Seeds.
In a letter addressed to ambient musician Brian Eno, one of the boycott’s biggest supporters who urged Cave to cancel the shows in solidarity with the BDS movement, Cave wrote: “I do not support the current government in Israel, yet do not accept that my decision to play in the country is any kind of tacit support for that government’s policies.
“But I also do not support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, as you know. I think the cultural boycott of Israel is cowardly and shameful.”
Yorke’s Australian tour is set to continue through next month, where it will conclude in Sydney on November 2.
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