Thom Yorke Walks Off Stage After Being Heckled over Israel-Hamas War as He Tells Protester 'Come Up Here and Say That'

At Thom Yorke's recent solo show in Melbourne, Australia, the singer walked off the stage after being heckled about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

In video footage of the incident, Yorke was onstage at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Wednesday, Oct. 30 when an audience member shouted at the singer about "the Israeli genocide of Gaza."

"How could you be silent in the face of conflict?" the protestor asked Yorke, 56.

The Radiohead frontman then urged the person to speak to him face-to-face. "Come up here and say that," Yorke said, according to the video. "Right here. Come on. Come up on the f---ing stage and say what you want to say."

When the person didn't approach the stage, Yorke asked, "You want to piss on everybody’s night?... OK, you do. See you later then." He then exited the stage. Further reports note that he did eventually return to play Radiohead's "Karma Police."

The singer, who currently plays solo and in the supergroup The Smile alongside Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood, previously defended performing in Israel. In a statement ahead of Radiohead's 2017 show in Tel Aviv, Yorke wrote, "We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America. Music, art and academia is about crossing borders not building them."

Yorke also recently shut down rumors of a Radiohead reunion.

In an interview with Australian outlet Double J, an ABC affiliate, the frontman said it's the last thing on his mind. "I am not aware of it and don't really give a flying f---," he said, adding, "No offense to anyone and err, thanks for caring. But I think we've earned the right to do what makes sense to us without having to explain ourselves or be answerable to anyone else's historical idea of what we should be doing."

The band went on hiatus in 2018. Since then, Yorke said there aren't any other expectations he has to meet. "I don't think we feel the need to live up to anything," he explained. "That feels like a non-problem."

However, Yorke does acknowledge the position Radiohead has given him and his bandmates post-hiatus, saying, "We are in this privileged position where we are still able to make music because of Radiohead, so no complaints."