wo weeks after two UK concerts featuring Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and the Israeli musician Dudu Tassa were cancelled.
[Also in Bristol.]
Breslaw said that he contacted the venue three weeks ago after seeing it voice support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Breslaw said that the group was not political, the music was “Jewish in its DNA” and that the band performs in Israel, including with Arab musicians.
“I wanted to make sure we weren’t coming to a hostile environment,” he said, adding that management assured him there would be no issue. In an email to Breslaw, the venue stressed that it “stands vehemently against antisemitism and is a safe environment for the band”.
But they were lying. Also, cowards.
Strange Brew said it had planned to host the show until Monday, when “campaign groups and members of the public” requested its cancellation. It said of the album cover: “Regardless of the intended meaning, the use of politically loaded symbolism in this way — by anyone of any background — is ambiguous and could therefore come across as politically insensitive and/or offensive to the people of Palestine and by our audiences. For this reason we could not be confident that platforming the artist at our venue was consistent with our ethical values.”
The venue added: “We have never and would never exclude anyone — artists or customers — on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality.”
Until now.
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