LONDON: Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood on Tuesday said two of his forthcoming shows with Israeli-born rock musician Dudu Tassa had been cancelled due to “credible threats“.
The guitarist and keyboardist had been due to perform two dates with Tassa in the western English city of Bristol and in London in June.
A pro-Palestinian activist movement that advocates political and economic action against Israel over its treatment of Palestinians welcomed the announcement.
“Palestinians welcome the cancellation of both of their UK shows. We reiterate our call for all venues to refuse to programme this complicit event that can only artwash genocide,” the PACBI-BDS movement, which had campaigned against the performances, said on X.
Announcing the axing of the shows, Greenwood, Tassa and their musicians said the “venues and their blameless staff have received enough credible threats to conclude that it’s not safe to proceed”.
The letter posted on X said the decision would be “hailed as a victory by the campaigners… but we see nothing to celebrate and don’t find anything positive has been achieved”.
“Forcing musicians not to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing,” it said.
“We believe art exists above and beyond politics…artists should be free to express themselves regardless of their citizenship or their religion — and certainly regardless of the decisions made by their governments,” it added.
The letter comes after Irish rappers Kneecap had several concerts cancelled.
British counter terrorism police last week launched an investigation into online videos of the Irish band after it denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah or inciting violence against UK politicians.
The police probe came as nearly 40 other groups and artists rallied around Kneecap with a joint statement in which they said that “as artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom“.
Greenwood and his fellow musicians added: “We have no judgement to pass on Kneecap but note how sad it is that those supporting their freedom of expression are the same ones most determined to restrict ours.”
Radiohead performed in Tel Aviv in 2017 despite being urged to cancel as part of a cultural boycott.
“Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government,” Yorke wrote on Twitter at the time.
“We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America,” he said.
“We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America,” he added.
