Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke briefly walked off stage during an Australian concert after a verbal stoush with a pro-Palestinian heckler, AFP reports.

Yorke was performing a solo show night in Melbourne when a concert goer began chiding him about the mounting death toll in Gaza.

“How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza,” the heckler said.

In a frosty reply, Yorke accused the man of ruining the gig for other fans and invited him to “hop up” on the stage.

“Don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. You want to piss on every body’s night,” Yorke said.

Yorke briefly walked off stage as the crowd booed the heckler, although returned minutes later to play his final song — Radiohead’s 1997 hit “Karma Police”.

Radiohead defied pro-Palestinian activists in 2017 to play a gig in Tel Aviv. “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.

“We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America. “

Opinion

Editorial

Growth below target
15 May, 2026

Growth below target

Pakistan lacks the export-oriented industrial expansion that has driven sustained high growth in other economies.
Limited openings
15 May, 2026

Limited openings

FOR years, even the smallest suggestion of engagement with Pakistan would trigger outrage in India’s political...
Meetings denied
15 May, 2026

Meetings denied

FORMER prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, continue to be held incommunicado inside Adiala Jail....
Trump in Beijing
Updated 14 May, 2026

Trump in Beijing

China is no longer just a rising economic power.
Growing numbers
14 May, 2026

Growing numbers

FORWARD-looking nations do not just celebrate their advantages; they turn them into tangible gains. They also ...
No culling
14 May, 2026

No culling

CRUELTY implies an administrative failure to adopt humane solutions. Despite the Lahore High Court’s orders to use...