The concert of the singer-songwriter Regina Spektor in Portland, Maine, was interrupted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators during the weekend, while some public participants shouted “Palestine” songs in the middle of her show on Saturday.
“You just cry about a Jew,” said Spektor, who is Jewish and emigrated to New York from the Soviet Union as a child. Other pro-Israeli participants in the public also shouted “Am Israel Chai”, which is Hebrew for “the people of Israel live”.
Stereogum published the video captured by fans on social networks, pointing out more than a protester had billed the scene by shouting “free Palestine”, citing accounts of the other present.
“I don’t know what he thinks,” said Spektor. “I really appreciate security.”
Spektor had expressed his support for Israel in the past, especially a few days after the attack on the Nova Music Festival Attack, of October 7, where she wrote that “if you have devalued Jewish life so much that the mourning of Jewish children murdered during a festival violated women, and the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust offended you – the departure.”
Another fan began to shout “free and free Palestine” after the song of “Fucking Palestine”. “I thought it was different from the internet, it’s real life,” said Spektor.
A third participant also interrupted before the show continues, saying that “there is a genocide. I watch children die, which hurts ”.
“You can leave the show if you wish, this is not a section of comments on the Internet, I know that you confuse my show for a YouTube video,” continued Spektor. “I think you should go, it’s not the place for this conversation. I am a real person who came here to play music. If someone wants to go out, it’s your luck. Does anyone else want to walk? You can.” In the fans’ video, a few other fans can be seen when leaving.
“The only reason I even speak English is because I came here to escape this shit. I only speak English because I came from a country where people dealt with Jews like others, and I am there here and that it fears. It would be good if one of my family’s lives did not have to go to a new country and learn a new language and stay in place. Having beautiful lives, you guys, ”said Spektor.
The Spektor concert incident reflects the continuous tension within the musical community on how to fight against the current Israel-Gaza conflict. Groups like Knecap and Bob Vylan have courted an important controversy for their pro-Palestine anti-Israeli messaging on the music festival circuit in recent months. In the case of Knecap, the Irish hip-hop group shared a message on the screen behind them during their set of Coachella Two who said “Fuck Israel, Free Palestine”. The English duo Punk-Rap Bob Vylan, meanwhile, lost its American visas and was abandoned by UTA after prompting a song from “Death to the FDI” to Glastonbury in June.
These actions have been criticized by Jews’ defense groups, who called anti -Semitic messaging. The ball joint and Bob Vylan both denied these claims, declaring that their words were intended for the Israeli government, not for the Jewish people.
“We are not for the death of the Jews, the Arabs or any other race or group of people,” wrote the duo in an article on Instagram concerning the controversy. “We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine.”
