Coldplay frontman Chris Martin drew the ire of the audience when he invited young Israeli fans to join him on stage during a performance in London, noting they were “equal humans on Earth.”
The band was performing in front of a sold-out crowd at Wembley Stadium on Sunday night when the fans were invited on stage, eliciting a series of boos and groans.
“I’m going to say this. I’m very grateful that you’re here as humans. We are treating you as equal humans on Earth, regardless of where you come from,” Martin said while sitting at a piano.
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“Thank you for being here. We’re grateful, and thank you for being loving and kind.”
“Although it’s controversial, maybe, I also want to welcome people in the audience from Palestine,” he added. “I believe that we’re all equally human.”
Martin’s remarks drew criticism from members of the Jewish community, who said he embarrassed the young fans while belittling their right to exist, the New York Post reported.
“Imagine being called up to be celebrated as fans of your favorite band, and it is turned into an opportunity to qualify your existence in front of an audience of tens of thousands,” Eve Barlow, who describes herself as a Zionist journalist, wrote on X.
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“Instead of supporting them and treating them like you would any other fans – with dignity, respect, and kindness – you made them feel conditionally tolerated, dehumanized, and guilty of being Jewish,” Casey Babb, a research fellow, posted online.
Sunday marked the second time the band made headlines this summer.
In July, CEO Andy Byron was forced to resign from Astronomer, an AI company, after he and the company’s HR executive, Kristin Cabot, were caught cuddling on the kiss cam at a Coldplay show in Massachusetts.
Byron and Cabot are married to other people.
Video of the incident went viral, sparking numerous memes and parodies.
“Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy,” Martin said at the time.
