Radiohead star Jonny Greenwood hits out at 'censorship' and 'intimidation' after shows cancelled following 'credible threats'
Radiohead star Jonny Greenwood hits out at 'censorship' and 'intimidation' after shows cancelled following 'credible threats'
A member of rock band Radiohead has hit out at "censorship" and "intimidation" after shows he was due to play with an Israeli musician were cancelled following "credible threats".
Guitarist and keyboardist Jonny Greenwood had been due to play two shows with Israel-born rock musician Dudu Tassa at Bristol Beacon's Lantern Hall and London's Hackney Church in June.
But on Tuesday, they confirmed the gigs would no longer go ahead after the venues decided it was "not safe to proceed".
Greenwood has collaborated with Tassa for more than a decade and released the album Jarak Qaribak with him in 2023.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (Pacbi), a member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, welcomed the cancellations, claiming the performances would have "whitewashed" the war in Gaza.
A statement from 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. Promoters of the shows can't be expected to fund our, or our audience's, protection."
It said 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".
It went on: "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.
"We believe art exists above and beyond politics; that art that seeks to establish the common identity of musicians 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."
ADVERTISEMENT
It said the show also featured singers from Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq, with "each of the members brought together by a shared love of Arabic song, regardless of where exactly they all happened to be born".
The statement also said: "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 sins.
"We dread the weaponisation of this cancellation by reactionary figures as much as we lament its celebration by some progressives."
Read more: Why are Kneecap so controversial?
The musicians also referenced Northern Irish rappers Kneecap, and recent calls to cancel their shows after one member appeared to call for the death of British MPs. Another video of the band appeared to show a member shouting "Up Hamas, up Hezbollah". Both claims are being investigated by counter-terrorism police.
ADVERTISEMENT
The statement said: "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?"
Greenwood also faced opposition from pro-Palestinian groups last year after performing in Tel Aviv amid the war in Gaza.
Radiohead performed at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv in 2017.
The Diocese of London, whic looks after the Hackney Church venue, told Sky News the promoter had contacted them on Friday to say the 25 June gig wouldn't be going ahead. They said those who had bought tickets would receive a full refund.
Sky News has also contacted Bristol Beacon and the promoters for comment.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Holsteins Shakes & Buns New Downtown Location
Las Vegas(KLAS)-Holsteins Shakes & Buns, the home of outrageous burgers and over-the-top milkshakes, is bringing the party downtown. The Las Vegas-born favorite opened the doors of its brand-new location in the heart of the Arts District at 1216 S. Main St. on Thursday, May 29. The crew dropped into the Las Vegas Now Kitchen with a taste of their menu. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Forget ‘sexy Paris lady' scents. This L.A. duo creates unisex perfumes that make you feel things
As you climb the staircase to Debbie Lin and Na-Moya Lawrence's second-story Hollywood apartment, a smell begins to materialize. It's earthy and calming — grounding, even — and by the time you open their door, the scent envelops you. That's because Lin and Lawrence have set up their artisan perfume company, Samar, in a corner of their home studio space. Sitting on a small foldaway table is a precision scale where the duo weighs out mixtures. Shelves along the wall are lined with hundreds of little bottles of essential oils and aroma chemicals. 'Have you smelled this?' Lin says, holding a bottle of green tea essential oil under my nose. These headquarters may seem surprising for a duo that creates award-winning perfumes and has built a following of loyal fans. Their small-batch production, inspired by highly personal memories, challenges the norms of the industry. Rather than obsessing over fast growth, they embrace an ethos of exploration and creativity — along with a bit of humor. Much of the messaging in the perfume landscape has been aspirational, Lawrence explains. ''I'm in Paris and I'm a sexy lady,'' she says, mimicking the traditional advertising. 'That's all great, but now you can smell like a dirty pond goblin if you want. And that's cool.' Lin and Lawrence launched Samar in Seattle in 2022, succeeding at something many failed at: keeping a pandemic hobby alive. 'We were talking about the places we want to travel when we're able to, the things that we miss doing,' Lin says. They tried various projects — at first, making pastries and later starting a skincare line — but realized that their real calling lay not in baking ('We're not morning people,' says Lawrence with a laugh) and the beauty endeavor was proving to be too ambitious. Lawrence had a passion for unusual scents ever since college, when a roommate introduced her to the indie fragrance brand Amorphous Perfume. The duo soon started thinking about entering perfumery. There was just one problem: Lin didn't like perfume all that much. Lin told Lawrence that she had never encountered one she enjoyed. For Lawrence? Mission accepted. She recalls thinking, 'There's no way there isn't something we could find for [Lin] to enjoy. And so as we were talking as very audacious queers, 'What if we just made it? But where the hell do we start?'' Down the rabbit hole they went, scouring message boards and subreddits, where they found lots of bad advice — some of it dangerous even. Finally, they stumbled upon Perfumer's Apprentice, Hermitage Oils and Pell Wall — material suppliers where you can order the fragrant oils and molecules that make up perfumes. 'We were like, 'Oh, this is the s—. This is the stuff we're supposed to be using,'' Lawrence says. The two started making scents that were 'grounded in specific memories and emotions that we wanted to relive for ourselves and share with other people,' Lin says. Soon, Samar was born. The name has a dual meaning in Arabic for both 'fruits of paradise' and 'evening conversations with friends,' which nicely sums up the feeling of their perfumes. Their first fragrances were Garden Heaux (a green, vegetal perfume) and Happy Trails (a campfire and woodsy scent inspired by Lin's love of camping with friends in the wilderness near Seattle). Now their home studio — the duo moved from Seattle to L.A. last April — is starting to take over parts of their apartment: A storage closet is full of bottles of finished perfume that's macerating, a term for when perfume sits for several weeks to let the chemical processes take place. For each fragrance, one of them takes 'point' — for instance, on Garden Heaux, Lawrence acted as the perfumer and Lin as the fragrance evaluator, deciding whether the scent needed tweaking. It's an intimate working environment for the partners in both work and life. 'To be able to work closely together is really lovely,' says Lin. Because they have different palates, they're each able to pick up on certain notes much more strongly. 'So between the two of us, once we're both happy, then we know we have something that's really nice and balanced,' Lin adds. Of course, there's not always an instant consensus. They found this out with Grove is in the Heart, the winner of an Art and Olfaction Award, presented in Lisbon in 2024. '[Lawrence] was like, 'No, it's not quite right. It should be sweeter, but not too sweet,'' says Lin. They rejiggered some materials but it was still missing something. Lin says, 'And I'm just like, 'OK, what is it?' She's like, 'I don't know. You know the Trader Joe's candied orange slices? Like that.' So I taste it, and I'm like, 'Well, what about this? Because it already is zesty, and it already has a little sweetness and the rindiness,' and she's like, 'Juicy. It needs to be more juicy.'' Lawrence laughs at this story, mentioning that sometimes they can go 13 or 14 trials before they succeed in satisfying both perfumers. 'I wanted it juicier, but there I was standing with a dried orange slice in my hand,' she says. 'I would have never gotten there,' banters Lin. Where they do align easily is in their commitment to making fragrance available and emotionally resonant. As a small business, Samar doesn't benefit from the discounts enjoyed by major brands — big companies buy literally tons of essential oil at a discounted rate. So the brand reflects that smaller scale by offering smaller sizes at more approachable price points (bottles cost between $10 and $55). Each perfume comes in 2.25mL, 5mL or 10mL sizes, smaller than the industry standard of 30mL or 50mL. 'A lot of people are samplers,' Lawrence says. 'We're samplers.' Samar's inclusiveness goes beyond their pricing. In L.A., they are surrounded by friends in the fragrance community, notably Orange County-based perfumers James Miju Nguyen and Kael Jeong, who run artisan perfume brands and KST Scent, respectively. They've formed something of a queer indie perfumer club. For these makers, gender isn't on the radar — a perfume can be enjoyed by all. In an Instagram post, Samar explained that at in-person shows, the company asks customers to suspend their beliefs about masculinity and femininity, and found that most men gravitate toward its more floral-forward and sweet perfumes like Beach Berry and Great Lei. One of Samar's most distinct creations, Speakeasy, was inspired by 1920s underground queer bars and the illicit moonshine that fueled the Prohibition era. 'It's one of our most polarizing scents, actually, but it's also one of my favorite ones that Debbie has made,' Lawrence says. They didn't shy away from the scent's complexity, leaning into the more unusual notes like gin, elderflower and leather. 'I really love the darkness to it,' Lawrence adds. Their exploration of scent is boundary-pushing. On a recent trip to Thailand, they found themselves at a chocolate cafe called Chocolate Culture Club, where they struck up a conversation with the owner, a chocolatier named MK. MK suggested they create perfumes from fermented chocolate husks, and before they left Bangkok, he gave them several bags of cacao husks. Lawrence bounds over to a shelf with several jars of a brown tinctured slurry, the results of which they'll use to create a cacao perfume. They'll send half of each batch to Thailand for Chocolate Culture Club to sell. The chocolate-vinegar scent isn't what one might think about when thinking of perfume, but that's part of the fun of trying to find that perfect blend. Lawrence says she's intrigued by the potential for 'slightly off scents.' The final result will be 'maybe beautiful, maybe just kind of weird,' she says. 'But weird is beautiful.'


New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
Pope Leo XIV rocks White Sox hat at the Vatican in new photos
Pope Leo XIV brought his White Sox fandom to the Vatican on Wednesday. While holding a general audience in St. Peter's Square, the Chicago-bred pontiff was photographed wearing a black White Sox cap as he greeted onlookers, including a bride and groom who appeared to be fellow fans of the AL Central club. Pope Leo XIV's sports allegiances were thrust into the spotlight in May when he made history after being elected the first American pope. He succeeded Pope Francis, who died in April at the age of 88 after a lengthy battle with double pneumonia. 6 Pope Leo XIV was seen wearing a Chicago White Sox hat at the Vatican on June 11, 2025. AFP via Getty Images 6 The American-born pope greeted newlyweds in his White Sox hat. REUTERS The pope's brother, John Prevost, quickly set the record straight over which Chicago baseball team his sibling preferred amid Cubs chatter. 'He was never ever a Cubs fan, so I don't know where that came from,' Prevost told local Chicago station WGN TV. 'He was always a Sox fan. Our mother was a Cubs fan. I don't know, maybe that clued in there and our dad was a Cardinals fan, so I don't know where all that came from. 'And all the aunts, our mom's family was from the north side, so that's why they were Cubs fans.' 6 Pope Leo XIV waved to onlookers in St. Peter's Square on June 11, 2025. Getty Images 6 The pope's sports allegiances were thrust into the spotlight after he was elected. REUTERS Born Robert Francis Prevost, the Windy City native has a publicized history of supporting the White Sox, as resurfaced video showed him wearing team gear during Game 1 of the 2005 World Series against the Astros. Chicago swept Houston in four games. 6 Pope Leo XIV was elected the first American pope in May 2025. REUTERS 6 The White Sox commemorated Pope Leo XIV with a graphic at Rate Field in May 2025. AP Last month, the White Sox installed a Pope Leo XIV graphic at Rate Field in honor of their most famous fan. Beyond the White Sox, who lost a record 121 games last season, Pope Leo XIV is also a Villanova Wildcat, having graduated from the university in 1977. Knicks fans were hopeful Pope Leo's Villanova ties would fuel a championship berth with former Wildcats Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges. The Knicks ultimately lost to the Pacers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.