Radiohead singer Thom Yorke stormed off stage during his Australian solo tour after a confrontation with an audience member who was protesting Israel’s war on Gaza.
Videos shared online from the Melbourne concert on Wednesday show a man in the crowd shouting at Yorke. While not all of his words are audible, he can be heard urging Yorke to “condemn the Israeli genocide of Gaza.”
Yorke replies, inviting the heckler to “hop up on stage” if he wants to make his statement.
“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,” Yorke adds before removing his guitar and walking off stage.
His departure followed the heckler’s repeated demands, with the audience member adding: “How many dead children will it take?”
Parts of the crowd could be heard booing the disruption, and Yorke returned to cheers shortly after to play the Radiohead song Karma Police.
Speaking to the BBC, Elly Brus, who was at the concert, said the protester “did not have support” from the Sidney Myer Music Bowl crowd.
“He was escorted away by security. He then continued to engage with people outside the venue as well,” she added.
Israel launched its war on Gaza on 7 October of last year, killing at least 43,204 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are innocent civilians, including thousands of women and children.Â
In March of this year, the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court, ruled that there are “reasonable grounds that Israel is committing genocide” in Gaza, with the International Criminal Court seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes.
Yorke has been quick in the past to speak out on political issues, including the US and UK-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. However, Yorke and his Radiohead bandmates have not publicly commented on Israel’s war on Gaza, and have in the past defended playing shows in Israel.Â
In 2017, Radiohead came under pressure from Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists after refusing to cancel a show in Tel Aviv in line with the cultural boycott of the country. Speaking out at the time, Yorke said “playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government”.
More recently, Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood, who is married to an Israeli artist who has been vocally supportive of Israeli forces as they wage war on Gaza, was accused of “artwashing” after he played a concert in Tel Aviv.Â
