Iconic 90s rocker storms off stage after being heckled at gig
Date: 2024-10-3190s rockstar Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, stormed off stage during a gig in Melbourne after being heckled by a fan.
On Wednesday night, the singer was performing on his solo tour in Australia when his performance was interrupted by a protester.
Video footage of the interaction shows a man calling out: ‘Condemn the Israeli genocide of Gaza.’ He then spoke about the death toll adding that ‘half of them were children.’
Although not all of the comments from the audience members could be heard, Thom responded by telling the man to ‘hop up on stage’ and make the remarks.
‘Come up here and say that. Right here, come on. Hop up on the f*****g stage and say what you wanna say. Don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. You want to p**s on everybody’s night?’ he said.
To which the man replied: ‘How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?’
Following this comment, the star walked off stage.
Video footage showed that the protester didn’t have support from the Sidney Myer Music Bowl crowd, which audience members telling him to be quiet so the show could continue.
The BBC reported that the pro-Palestinian protester was escorted away by security but engaged with concertgoers outside of the venue.
Despite the dramatic exit from Thom, a few minutes later he returned to perform his final song of the evening, Radiohead’s 1997 hit song Karma Police.
In 2017, Radiohead was slammed by Palestinian supporters for playing in Tel Aviv, Israel despite pressure from fans to adopt the cultural boycott.
Thom responded to the criticism on social media, commenting: ‘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.’
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas.
Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023 saw 1,200 people killed.
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The Radiohead singer is next scheduled to perform at the Sydney Opera House forecourt on Friday, November 1 and Saturday, November 2.
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