Thom Yorke clashed with a protester during his solo show in Australia. Find fan-captured footage of the moment below.
The moment took place as the artist took to the stage in Melbourne on Wednesday (October 30) as part of his ongoing solo tour across Australia and Asia.
Towards the end of his set at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, his rendition of Radiohead‘s classic track ‘Karma Police’ was interrupted by someone in the audience. According to footage and comments from other fans at the gig, the attendee was a pro-Palestine protester.
After pausing the set, Yorke was seen listening to the voice coming from the crowd, before confronting him and leaving the stage abruptly.
“Come up and say that. Right here,” he said in response. “Come up on the fucking stage and say what you want to say. But don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. Come on.”
“You want to piss on everybody’s night? Come on. OK, you do. See you later then,” he added, departing the stage.
Since footage of the moment has been shared online, various fans from that gig have shed light on the unfolding of events across social media. On Reddit, for instance, some have claimed that the protester in the audience was shouting out statements in defence of Gaza against Israel.
Others confirmed that Yorke would later return to the stage to finish his rendition of ‘Karma Police’, while one also added: “Us general admission schmos were cheering and clapping for him to come back. Thom went out of his way to thank us on the grass [after the show]”.
It’s worth noting that Yorke has not publicly said anything about the current Israel-Hamas war, although Radiohead did face some backlash in 2017 for playing a show in Israel despite protesters urging them to cancel the gig.
The sold-out concert went ahead as planned at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv, despite some describing the show as an insult to Palestinian people. There were also calls to cancel the gig via an open letter issued by Artists For Palestine UK – and signed by musicians including Roger Waters, Thurston Moore and Young Fathers, as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Radiohead Fans for Palestine also wrote an open letter to Yorke, which read: “It is the Palestinian people who have asked you to boycott and if you’re going to justify your show in Tel Aviv it is them you should be addressing.”
Yorke would later respond in a statement, saying: “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government. We don’t endorse [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any more than Trump.”
The frontman then engaged in a Twitter altercation with director Ken Loach over the Israel gig, with the latter asking the band whether they would “stand with the oppressed or the oppressor?”
At the time, drummer Philip Selway said in response that playing the show “felt like the right decision”. When asked by NME whether he felt like the band had burned bridges by playing the show, Selway replied: “I honestly don’t know. That wouldn’t have been the basis to make our decision to play there. You know, I think we stand by what we have said and that feels like the right decision.”
Campaigners also organised a protest at Glastonbury 2017, aiming to wave 100 Palestinian flags in front of the Pyramid Stage during the set.
The Tel Aviv show went ahead as planned, and was the last gig of Radiohead’s three-month tour that year.
Since then, Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood divided some fans this year when he played a gig in Tel Aviv, one day after he reportedly participated in protests calling for hostages held in Gaza to be released and new elections to be held.
At the time, the performance was criticised by pro-Palestine activists who accused him of “artwashing genocide”.
Just one month later, Greenwood would defend being a part of a musical project with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa, and spoke out against “silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel”.
Before then, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien called for a ceasefire in Gaza back in January. “Like so many of you I have found the events of October 7 and what has followed too awful for words.. anything that I have tried to write feels so utterly inadequate. Ceasefire now. Return the hostages,” he wrote on Instagram.
Yorke’s tour is set to continue through next month, where it will come to a close with a final show at the Tokyo Garden Theatre on November 23.
