Thom Yorke has confronted a protester at a show on his current solo tour of Australia and Asia.
The incident happened last night (October 30) at a gig in Melbourne. Yorke was playing Karma Police as his final song when there was an interruption by someone yelling in the audience. As you can hear from the phone footage taken below, it’s unclear what exactly was said. According to some reports, the protester yelled: “How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?"
Whatever it was, Yorke heard it and took umbrage. “Come up and say that. Right here,” he said in response. “Come up on the fucking stage and say what you want to say. But don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. Come on.”
“You want to piss on everybody’s night? Come on. OK, you do. See you later then,” he said before abruptly putting down his guitar and exiting the stage.
Commenters on a Reddit page later confirmed that Yorke did indeed return and finish his set: “Us general admission schmos were cheering and clapping for him to come back. Thom went out of his way to thank us on the grass (after the show)”.
Although Yorke has been vocal about a number of causes down the years, on the Gaza conflict he has not made any public statement. Back in 2017, Radiohead faced a backlash when they played a show in Tel Aviv.
At the time a group called Radiohead Fans For Palestine penned an open letter to Yorke, which said: “It is the Palestinian people who have asked you to boycott and if you’re going to justify your show in Tel Aviv it is them you should be addressing.”
Yorke then issued a reply which pointed out: “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.”
It’s become increasingly clear that the Israel-Palestine conflict represents choppy waters for many so-called ‘progressive’ artists. The cultural boycott that the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement has attempted to put in place has – so far – not been as all-encompassing as it was in the 1970s and '80s against South Africa.
Some acts like Radiohead and Nick Cave have chosen to break it, arguing that engaging with their Israeli fans is not tantamount to endorsing the current Israeli government. Others like Elvis Costello, Lorde and Lana Del Rey have been persuaded to cancel appearances in Israel by the backlash they’ve faced.
Either way, Yorke will surely not be the last artist to find themselves impaled on the horns of this seemingly intractable issue.
