Reggie Watts hits back at Thom Yorke’s comments on Palestine and “social media witch-hunts”

Reggie Watts has responded to Thom Yorke‘s comments explaining his stance towards the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The solo star and frontman of Radiohead and The Smile took to social media yesterday (May 30) to speak out on the conflict, following a clash with a protester during a solo show last October where he left the stage abruptly when the person in the crowd interrupted his set.

Yorke addressed last year’s show and highlighted his stance, saying that he thinks that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “totally out of control” and that “the international community should put all the pressure it can on them to cease.”

He then turned his sights to Hamas and its October 2023 attack at the Israeli music festival Supernova where citizens were taken and remain captive, writing: “At the same time the unquestioning Free Palestine refrain that surrounds us all does not answer the simple question of why the hostages have still not all been returned? For what possible reason?”

1,200 attendees were killed in the terror attack launched by militants of the de facto government of Palestine in the Gaza Strip, and around 250 attendees were taken hostage by Hamas, according to figures from The Guardian. Outlets including BBC News report that Israel is now putting pressure on Hamas to release the 58 hostages it is still holding, with at least 20 believed to be alive.

Since the conflict escalated in 2023, at least 54,249 people have been killed in Gaza. This included 3,986 people since Israel resumed its offensive, according to the territory’s health ministry. Nearly 4,000 people have been killed there in the past 10 weeks alone, and the UN says another 600,000 people have been displaced by Israeli ground operations.

The IPC has also warned that that half a million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic levels of hunger (via BBC).

Later in the post, the ‘Karma Police’ songwriter also addressed the pressure put on those in the public eye to speak out on political issues, saying: “Social media witch-hunts (nothing new) on either side pressurising artists and whoever they feel like that week to make statements etc do very little except heighten the tension, fear and oversimplification of what are complex problems that merit proper face-to-face debate by people who genuinely wish the killing to stop and an understanding to be found.

“This kind of deliberate polarisation does not serve our fellow human beings and perpetuates a constant ‘us and them’ mentality. It destroys hope and maintains a sense of isolation, the very things that extremists use to maintain their position.”

Now, Watts has reacted, sharing a post to Instagram last night (May 30) in which he said he was “disappointed to see that Thom’s statement centers his hurt feelings and frames his fans’ demands for him to speak up as a “social media witch hunt,” instead of recognizing the urgency of their call for him to speak out against the world-historical humanitarian crisis in Palestine.”

He continued: “I hope Thom will reflect and decenter himself from the public outcry against the genocide, because if he and his artistic legacy stand for love and humanity as he asserts, he can come to see his fans’ actions as an act of loving solidarity with suffering people–a needed affirmation of our humanity in these dark times.

“l also want to address Thom’s repetition of a common rhetorical tactic of those who are devoted to maintaining the status quo, that one cannot speak up or demand an end to the genocide unless they fully understand the deep “complexity” of this historical conflict.”

Watts went on to urge Yorke’s fans to “reject this conviction-neutralizing, demobilizing sentiment and trust their hearts,” adding: “You don’t need to be a geopolitics scholar to know that starving children and slaughtering families is wrong.

“Your membership in the human family gives you authority and, indeed, responsibility to speak up. All positive change starts with conscious and loving people raising their voices and working together to bring a better world into existence. Please keep fighting until our sisters and brothers in Palestine are free.”

While this marks the first time that Yorke has publicly spoken out on the Israel-Hamas war, it is worth noting that Radiohead did encounter backlash in 2017 when they played a show in Israel despite protests urging them to cancel the gig.

Among those pressuring the band to back out of the live show – which was held at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv – were Roger Waters, Thurston Moore, Young Fathers and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who all signed an open letter issued by Artists For Palestine UK.

Campaigners then organised a protest at Glastonbury that year, aiming to wave 100 Palestinian flags in front of the Pyramid Stage during the set.

The frontman would later respond to the controversy around the Israel show by stating: “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government. We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump.”

Around that time, he also got into a Twitter altercation with director Ken Loach over the show, when the latter asked the members whether they would “stand with the oppressed or the oppressor?”

Last spring, Yorke’s Radiohead and The Smile bandmate Jonny Greenwood also divided fans by playing a gig in Tel Aviv. 

The show took place one day after he reportedly participated in protests calling for hostages held in Gaza to be released and new elections to be held, and some pro-Palestine activists accused him of “artwashing genocide” by going ahead with the show.

The following month, the guitarist defended 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”. He issued a further statement this month after UK gigs from the duo were cancelled after protestors called for a boycott.

In January 2024, fellow band member Ed O’Brien also shared his outlook on the conflict and called for a ceasefire in Gaza. “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.

The update from Yorke comes amid rumours circulating that Radiohead are gearing up to hit the road again and supposedly “placed holds in select European cities for a run of residency gigs this autumn”.

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