The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas has called out the “white privilege” of “American Zionists”.
His comments came during an appearance on the viral YouTube series SubwayTakes, hosted by Kareem Rahma, which premiered online earlier today (April 21).
“Well, it’s been nice having a career,” he quipped, before setting out his position that “American Zionists get the benefits of white privileged people, but talk like they are Black people during slavery”.
Rahma agreed with that take “100 per cent”, saying that Zionists claim to be “oppressed”, but attend weddings in Tel Aviv, “when there are 80,000 plus dead people, including women and children, half a mile away”.
Casablancas went on to say: “I mean, just for the people that are gonna be like, ‘Hamas, October 7th’, yes, bad, but you know, Native American rebellions didn’t mean it was ok to do what we did. Slave rebellions that were violent didn’t mean that slavery is not bad.”
Check out the full video here:
When Rahma suggested that Casablancas’ clarification was for the “media illiterate”, the singer added: “You know, indoctrination is such a strong thing, we just want to be part of the tribe…But it is a sad fact, the brainwashing of people in general. You can’t be mad because something was rammed down their throat, necessarily.”
Asked whether he has “hope”, Casablancas responded that it would depend on your timeline, saying he is hopeful that things will be alright “eventually” and that he believes “people are awakening”.
The state of Israel has consistently denied all accusations of genocide and war crimes.
SubwayTakes is a web series in which Rahma sits next to celebrities on a New York subway train and invites them to share their hottest takes on life into a microphone attached to a Metrocard. Previous guests have included Charli XCX, Cate Blanchett, FKA Twigs and David Byrne.
Elsewhere in the episode, Casablancas aired his frustration with long-winded voice notes and modern-day cars, and urged conservatives and progressives to join together to fight the billionaire ruling class. He also performed an impromptu demo version of ‘You Only Live Once’ with Rahma.
It comes just days after The Strokes closed out their set at Coachella weekend two with a politically-charged visual montage drawing attention to international leaders that the band said had been overthrown by the CIA, as well as Martin Luther King Jr., who appeared alongside the statement, “US Govt found guilty of his murder in civil trial”.
They also showed footage of rubble in Iran, alongside the text “over 30 universities destroyed in Iran,” and a clip of the “last university in Gaza” being blown up by an air missile.
Casablancas has long been outspoken on the subject of Israel and Gaza, signing an open letter in 2021 in support of Palestinian rights, and also urging a boycott of performances in Israel.
Last week, the campaign group No Music For Genocide issued an open letter signed by over 1000 cultural workers and artists calling for fans to boycott this year’s Eurovision Song Contest unless Israel is banned from participating.
Casablancas also spoke to NME in 2024 about his view on the billionaire class. “The main weapon of these ‘bad guy’ people – billionaires trying to pay no taxes – is distraction,” he said. “And it’s a long, complicated, indirect chain of exploitation, so it’s not really easy to pinpoint who’s doing what damage.”
“What bums me out is people love to talk on a daily basis about the distractions that are being fed to us and I’m just so over it and so fed up with it. I don’t know if it’s the convenience or the cosiness and the professional fonts of a nice newspaper, or the magical Superman lights of CNN, but the fact we can’t unchain ourselves from this song or [stop being] hypnotised by this nonsense is the biggest challenge and biggest confusion I have.”
The Strokes are preparing to release their new album ‘Reality Awaits‘, their first album in six years. The record – recorded in Costa Rica with producer Rick Rubin and finished in a number of global locations – will arrive June 26 via Cult Records/RCA Records, and is available to pre-order here.
They have also announced a whopping world tour visiting the UK, North America, Europe and Japan. It will be their first full tour in the UK and Ireland in over 20 years, and will see them stop by London’s O2, Newcastle’s Utilita Arena, Manchester’s Co-op Live and Dublin’s 3Arena in October.
