Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood and Israeli musician Dudu Tassa have a long-running collaboration, and the two of them performed together in Tel Aviv. In response, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement accused Greenwood of "artwashing genocide," providing legitimacy to Israel during its campaign of genocide against Palestinian people. More recently, Greenwood and Tassa planned to play two concerts in London this June, and both of those concerts have been canceled after objections from the BDS Movement. In a statement, Greenwood and Tassa refer to "credible threats" against the venues and refer to the movement against those shows as "censorship."
In their statement, Greenwood and Tassa draw lines between their situation and that of Kneecap, the Northern Irish rap group currently facing what they call a "coordinated smear campaign" for speaking out in solidarity with Palestine at Coachella, and to the letter in support of Kneecap that many artists signed. R&B star Kehlani has also had a couple of her shows canceled after speaking out in solidarity with Gaza and Palestine. Here's what Greenwood and Tassa's statement says:
With regret, our shows in Bristol & London, due to take place on June 23rd and 2th, have been cancelled. The venues and their blameless staff have received enough credible threats to conclude that it's not safe to proceed, promoters of the shows can't be expected to fund our, or our audience's, protection.
The campaign which has successfully stopped the concerts insist that "this is not about censorship" and "this isn't about silencing music or attacking individual artists. But its organizers can't have it both ways. Forcing musicians to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing. Intimidating venues into pulling our shows won't help achieve the peace and justice everyone in the Middle East deserves. The cancellation will be hailed as a victory by the campaigners behind it, but we see nothing to celebrate and don't find that anything positive has been achieved.
The record we are touring features singers from Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Iraq. The group's cultural and musical roots are centuries old in Iraq, Yemem, Syria, Turkey, and all across the Middle East -- each of the members brought together by a shared love of Arabic song, regardless of where exactly they all happened to be born. The silencing campaign has demanded that the venues "reaffirm [their] commitment to ethical, inclusive cultural programming." Just not this particular mix of cultures, apparently.
We believe art exists above and beyond politics, that art that seeks to establish the common identity across borders in the Middle East should be encouraged, not decried, and that artists should be free to express themselves regardless of their citizenship or their religion -- and certainly regardless of the decisions made by their governments.
This project has always had a difficult, narrow channel to navigate. We find ourselves in the odd position of being condemned by both ends of the political spectrum.
For some on the right, we're playing the "wrong" kind of music -- too inclusive, too aware of the rich and beautiful diversity of Middle Eastern culture. For some on the left, we're only playing it to absolve ourselves of our collective sings. We dread the weaponisation of this cancellation by reactionary figures as much as we lament the celebration by some progressives.
And yet, meekly agreeing to be silenced without some response feels wrong. As the artist's statement supporting Kneecap says: "As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom... In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs that will be enjoyed by thousands of people." Nor should anyone. We have no judgment 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.
We agree completely with people who ask: "how can this be more important than what's happening in Gaza and Israel?" They're right -- it isn't. How could it be? What, in anyone's upcoming cultural life, is?
We feel great admiration, love and respect for all the performers in this band, especially the Arab musicians and singers who have shown amazing bravery and conviction in contributing to our first record, and in touring with us. Their artistic achievements are toweringly important, and we hope that you will one day get to hear us perform these songs -- love songs mostly -- together with us, somewhere, somehow. If that happens, it won't be a victory for any country, religion, or political cause. It'll be a victory for our shared love and respect of the music -- and of each other.
Jonny Greenwood, Dudu Tassa and the musicians
Along with the statement, Greenwood and Tassa included a recording of the Egyptian folk song "Sallam Alay," which they recorded with singer Jiana Naddaf.
— Jonny Greenwood (@JnnyG) May 6, 2025
UPDATE: On May 8, Greenwood's Radiohead bandmate Ed O'Brien re-shared a post on his Instagram story from Breaking The Silence, a non-government organization that spotlights testimonies from Israeli military veterans about the abuse endured by Palestinians in an effort to help end Israel's occupation. The post reads: "Stop the killing of children. Stop the starvation. Stop the bombing. Stop the ethnic cleansing. Stop the occupation. Stop looking away." See that below.
