Lorde Cancels Israel Concert Date Amid Protests

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Lordehas canceled her upcoming show in Israel amid protests. Her full statement can be found below.

Here is @Lorde's statement on the cancellation of her Tel Aviv show, via Israeli PR for the concert. pic.twitter.com/Ph0uGHRjCV

— Amy Spiro (@AmySpiro) December 24, 2017
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Well done

 

Everyone should read this which apparently influenced her decision: Dear Lorde, here's why we're urging you not to play Israel

 

Dope

 

good......but she should also cancel her Russian dates

 

Kinda confused on this...so shes skipping Israel due to their policies towards Palestine...but shes completely ok,playong the US even though their policies have become equally atrocious under Trump...

 

There is a targeted boycott initiated on the request of Palestinian groups which hopes to emulate the success of a similar boycott in South Africa. The boycott is not a principled stance, it is a tactic hoping to achieve a goal. No goal can be achieved by boycotting the world hegemon

 

Pretty poor to announce a show and then cancel it. She had to know there would be backlash from some of her fans as there is towards almost any artist who plays here.

 

People keep bringing up different places she should also be boycotting and it's like they don't understand this. And there's also that attitude of "you're not fixing everything, so what's the point of your action" which is frustrating

 

It's a lot easier to say no to Israel than it is to say no to the US. I'm sure if the $$ was there, her or at least her label would still push for the Israel show to happen.

 

I really don’t think it’s just about money. It’s so easy to say pop stars only care about the money, but that completely ignores the political context in which she’s cancelling this show. And I highly doubt the money isn’t there in Israel. It’s good enough for huge acts like Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake (as referenced in the thread linked in the news post) so I think it’s pretty clear this isn’t about money.

Also, people protest the US all the time. Acts have cancelled shows in NC after the bathroom bill and AZ for anti-immigration bills, off the top of my head. The reason nobody is going to boycott the whole US isn’t just because of money, but because you’d only hurt your own career and fanbase by doing that while drawing really negligible attention to issues.

 

She's bad at planning.

 

I hope you’re right. Mega pop stars and labels just have me skeptical.

 

Preferred Thom Yorke's response.

 

Really?

What exactly do you like about it?

 

i liked the part where he talked about "throwing the word apartheid around," thats a good thing to say for sure

 

You're being divisive.

 

Specifically this part: "I think that it's true to say that the people you'd be denying [the music] are the people who would agree with you and don't necessarily agree with their government."

Edit: it's Godrich's quote but I like it.

 

Ah I see.

Just seems that being denied the privilege of seeing *insert music act* is minuscule in the context of said disagreement that Godrich mentions but does not go into detail in, but denies people's human rights.

Do you think that statement works with something like say Apartheid South Africa?

 

That seems like an opinion which hinges on how you feel about the conflict with Israel and Palestine. I won't be going down that rabbit hole, so I respectfully decline the invite. In my experience, it's usually puts people's thinly veiled anti-semitism or anti-arabism on display, and I'd prefer not to see that here. I'm neutral when it comes to Palestine and Israel. Admittedly my knowledge of the Apartheid is limited, so without doing more research I can't answer your question, but based on what I do know, I don't believe the two are accurate comparisons either.

I don't believe people should be punished for their government's actions, same goes for Russia and the United States. There's plenty of people who don't agree with what people in power are doing. When Maroon 5 and Ringo Star cancelled their gigs in North Carolina in protest of the bathroom bill, it was easier for me to rally behind since my mind was made up on that issue, but in hindsight I feel bad for people who live there and didn't support that bill. I do, however, support the artist's right to choose and make that decision, even if I don't agree with it. Same goes for Lorde here, even if my original reply didn't mention that.

 

I think this hardly qualifies as punishment.

I encourage you to learn more on the situation.

http://m.jpost.com/Israel-News/Mand...t-Israel-is-the-worst-apartheid-regime-515397

Anyway, a statement like Radiohead’s only does damage to Palestinians in that it makes fans who miss out on their favorite band victims when in the full context of the situation and just in general, they are not.

 

So much for my requests not to discuss the Palestine and Israel conflict. Good talk.

 

Theoretically yeah, it would be ideal if political issues were sorted out in isolation from culture/social life/etc... but that's not how politics works. Nobody wants to "punish" others for happening to live in a country whose government they disagree with - the point is to try & force the government to hear a message that they're otherwise ignoring. Citizens losing access to a concert is an unfortunate (but necessary) side effect of trying to achieve that goal.

 

Well technically you declined then followed it up with a statement on the situation so...

 

You're clearly looking to argue, best of luck to you.