Thom Yorke walks off stage in Australia following row with pro-Palestine protestor
Radiohead singer Thom Yorke has never really shied away from making his feelings known on a variety of topics, including political causes and social protests. However, during a recent solo show in Melbourne, Australia, Yorke walked off stage after a crowd member confronted him regarding his silence on Gaza.
This most recent conflict between Israel and ostensibly Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been ongoing in the Gaza Strip and Israel since October 7th, 2023. The war, which has now spread to Lebanon and Iran, began when Hamas-affiliated militant groups launched a brutal surprise attack on Israel that day. During the attack, 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, including 815 civilians. It included the horrific massacre at the Nova music festival.
Since that fateful day, over 48,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority in the Gaza Strip; meanwhile, Israel has lost under 2,000 citizens, and the world continues to protest its actions. The International Court of Justice is reviewing a case accusing the country of committing genocide in Gaza.
Yorke hasn’t publicly commented on the ongoing events in the Middle East, which led to him being heckled by a member of the audience at a recent show in Australia.
While performing at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne earlier this week, Yorke performed a variety of his best-loved tracks, spanning both his solo discography and his work with Radiohead. Until, during the encore, an audience member began to heckle the songwriter, shouting about “the Israeli genocide of Gaza” and the number of deaths that have occurred in Palestine over the past year.
In response, Yorke said, “Come up here and say that. Right here, come on. Hop up on the fucking 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?”
This reaction was then met with the question, “How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?” from the crowd member, prompting Yorke to say, “Ok, you do it, see you later then,” before walking off stage.
Yorke did eventually return to the stage to play the classic Radiohead track ‘Karma Police’, but the incident – captured in crowd footage and shared online – certainly put a damper on the concert. This is certainly not the first time fans and fellow artists have criticised Yorke for his position on the Israel and Palestine conflict.
Radiohead’s history with Israel
Back in 2017, Radiohead broke the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) cultural boycott of Israel by performing a show in Tel-Aviv. While Radiohead were not the only artists to break the boycott of Israel – Nick Cave being another notable example – Yorke and the band were very outspoken in their criticism of the cultural boycott.
At the time, Yorke, responding to criticism of the band by director Ken Loach, wrote, “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing the 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.”
More recently, Yorke’s Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood attracted criticism when playing a concert in Tel-Aviv alongside Israeli artist Dudu Tassa. After the BDS movement lamented his decision to play the show as “artwashing genocide”, Greenwood, whose wife is Israeli, criticised what he saw as “the silencing of this – or any – artistic effort made by Israeli Jews”.
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