Musician Thom Yorke interrupted a performance in Melbourne to berate a ‘pro-Palestine’ protester. So what?
As I’ve often warned, it’s almost always a grave mistake to pay attention to the political opinions of celebrities. Actors and musicians, especially. I’ve spent enough time around musicians for my whole adult life not to know better. Which is not to say that they’re all complete idiots barely capable of tying their own shoelaces. I mean, some of them can even do joined-up writing!
But seriously, folks, there are genuinely intelligent musicians, just like there are genuinely moronic PhDs. But they’re herd-followers to a fault. These are people who don’t dare say anything they aren’t sure all their peers already agree with. Ditto, actors. These people are terrified of saying anything ‘wrong’, because they know it will end their careers in an instant.
So, when an actor or musician bucks the received opinions of their peers, it’s at least brave, if nothing else.
Whatever else we may think of him now, when Neil Young came out and supported Ronald Reagan in the ’80s, that took guts. Nick Cave shows a quiet courage, too, when he politely refuses to apologise for his old lyrics that offend wokesters.
And when Thom Yorke stands up to the groupthinking anti-Israel bullies, that, too, takes some guts.
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.
I’ve never been a particular fan of Radiohead, I might add. Though I was pleasantly astonished by Yorke’s soundtrack for the 2018 remake of Suspiria. But I’ll applaud his courage in standing up to the ‘pro-Palestine’ mob.
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?”
Apparently it didn’t occur to the anti-Israel goon that he’d paid good money to enter a venue funded by a Jewish businessman.
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.’
This isn’t a one off, either. Yorke and Radiohead have been repeatedly bullied for refusing to go along with the anti-Semitic BDS movement. Although, of course, he hedged his bets by carefully saying he didn’t support Netanyahu personally. Not that that mollifies the demented echo-chamber.
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”.
True to form, Nick Cave isn’t bowing to peer pressure, either.
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.”
Wish I hadn’t learned that about Eno, though. He should form a band with Roger Waters – and self-immolate on stage. Now, that I’d buy tickets for.
