Singer Thom Yorke from Oxford band Radiohead briefly walked off stage after an exchange with an audience member about deaths in Gaza.

Videos posted online by concert-goers at the Melbourne show on Wednesday (October 30) show a man in the crowd shouting at Mr Yorke.

While not all of his words can be heard, he calls on the singer to "condemn the Israeli genocide of Gaza".

Mr Yorke responds by telling the heckler to "hop up on stage" to make his remarks.

"Don't stand there like a coward, come here and say it. Do you want to p*** on everybody's night? Ok you do it, see you later," Mr Yorke continued, before removing his guitar and halting his set.

His exit came as the heckler repeated his call and added "how many dead children will it take?".

Segments of the crowd could be heard booing the disturbance, and Yorke returned to cheers shortly after to play the Radiohead song Karma Police.

Concert-goer Elly Brus said the protester "did not have support" from the Sidney Myer Music Bowl crowd.

“He was escorted away by security. He then continued to engage with people outside the venue as well," she told the BBC.


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In the past, Radiohead has faced pressure to cancel shows in Israel and take part in a cultural boycott of the country over its policies towards the Palestinians.

Mr Yorke pushed back on that pressure, saying that "playing in a country isn't the same as endorsing its government".

"We've played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others," Mr Yorke said in a statement in 2017, defending a decision to go ahead with a planned concert in Tel Aviv.

"We don't endorse [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America. Music, art and academia is about crossing borders not building them," he added.