Julian Casablancas censored by CBS during The Voidz performance on ‘Colbert’
Julian Casablancas was censored by CBS during his performance of ‘Blue Demon’ with The Voidz on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on March 12th.
In the song, Casablancas sings: “We fight each other like two brothers, Father forgive me, intifada, Too many babies dead like their mothers.” However, the version which CBS chose to air didn’t include intifada which The Voidz frontman sings twice on the track.
Intifada, which CBS chose to censor, is an Arabic term to describe the resistance movement. Due to the ongoing conflict in Palestine, the term has been used prominently, and seemingly, this is the context of the ‘Blue Demon” lyric as Casablancas sings, “Too many babies dead like their mothers”. In January, the AP reported that 13,000 children have died in Gaza during the war.
In 2021, Casablancas was among 600 musicians, which also included Patti Smith and Roger Waters, to sign an open letter as part of Musicians For Palestine.
The letter encouraged artists to refrain from performing in Israel and asked them to continue “standing firm in your support of the Palestinian people and their human right to sovereignty and freedom.”
‘Blue Demon’ was released last week and is set to feature on the upcoming EP, Megz of Ram, which will arrive at an unconfirmed date.
Last year, they released Like All Before You, their first full-length project in six years. The group performed in London earlier this month and will return to the United Kingdom in August to support Idles at their huge hometown show in Bristol.
Currently, The Voidz seems to be the priority for Casablancas. The Strokes’ last performance took place over a year ago when they played at Chicago’s Credit Union 1 Arena as a benefit for local Democratic candidate Kina Collins.
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