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Coldplay Frontman In Hot Water Over Politically Charged Stunt

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Chris Martin
Photo Credit: Frank Schwichtenberg, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin ignited outrage after a moment during the band’s latest world tour stop was accused of demeaning Jewish fans.

On Sunday night, before a sold-out crowd of 90,000, Martin spotted two women in the audience holding a sign reading “We Believe In Magic,” a nod to one of the group’s hits.

He brought them onto the stage, introducing them as Avia and Tal. What followed was a mix of cheers and boos when the pair identified themselves as being from Israel.

Martin told the women and the crowd, “I’m going to say this: I’m very grateful that you’re here as humans, and I’m treating you as equal humans on Earth regardless of where you come from or don’t come from.”

“Thank you for being here. We’re grateful,” he added. “And thank you for being loving and kind.”

That’s when Martin turned his attention to the rest of the arena and remarked, “Although it’s controversial maybe, I also want to welcome people in the audience from Palestine, out of the belief we’re all equal humans.”

The singer turned back to the women and continued, “I believe that we’re all… that people are human. Thank you for being here. We’re very happy to see you.”

“Look at your beautiful green eyes. We have a song called Green Eyes. We should re-sing it for you,” he noted.

Later, one of the women admitted to a local outlet that she had considered concealing her identity.

“There was a split second that we considered saying we are from Malta, and then I said Israeli,” she explained.

“We couldn’t and didn’t want to lie. It was a bit scary that 90,000 people know we are from here, but we said it.”

The video of the interaction quickly spread online and fueled backlash from Jewish voices who accused Martin of mishandling the situation by not defending the women against the jeers.

Journalist Eve Barlow described the moment as humiliating for the two fans.

She said she “cannot even begin to unpack how mortifying that moment must have been.” On X, she added, “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.”

Jewish YouTuber Yaakov Langer accused Martin of delivering a demeaning message.

“Coldplay invited two women on stage then berates them and makes them feel bad for … being Israeli,” he wrote.

“He didn’t mention the hostages being held by Hamas. He didn’t actually treat them like human beings.”

Other voices outside the Jewish community echoed those sentiments. One user posted, “This is unbelievable… I’m not Jewish but offended on behalf of my Jewish friends.”

This controversy is only the latest Coldplay headline of the summer. Just weeks earlier, during the band’s Massachusetts show at Gillette Stadium, a scandal erupted when Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and HR executive Kristin Cabot were caught on the stadium’s kiss cam.

Both married to other people, the pair freaked out, with  Cabot covered her face while Byron ducked down in a video clip that quickly went viral.

Martin, noticing the awkward reaction, quipped, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.”

The fallout was catastrophic for the pair, with Byron stepping down from his $1.3 billion company, followed by Cabot’s resignation days later.

As Coldplay’s tour continued to draw attention, another event in the United Kingdom placed a spotlight on the ongoing debate over free speech.

Graham Linehan, co-creator of the sitcom “Father Ted,” was arrested at Heathrow Airport after landing from the United States, allegedly over three social media posts critical of transgender activism.

Writing on his Substack, Linehan recounted how he had been stopped at the gate before boarding and reissued a ticket, which he later interpreted as a warning sign. Upon arrival, he was met by five armed officers.

“In a country where pe**philes escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilized five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer for this tweet (and no, I promise you, I am not making this up),” he wrote.

The posts in question included one where he said, “if a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act.”

He encouraged people encountering such situations to call police or even “punch” the offender.

Questioned by officers, Linehan insisted the post was a serious argument delivered with humor.

He was released on bail with one restriction: he was banned from using X.

“I looked at the single bail condition: I am not to go on Twitter. That’s it. No threats, no speeches about the seriousness of my crimes – just a legal gag order designed to shut me up while I’m in the U.K., and a demand I face a further interview in October,” he said.

Linehan argued that the episode proved Britain had become “a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad.”

“Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling, who is a notable critic of the transgender movement, wrote, “What the f— has the U.K. become? This is totalitarianism. Utterly deplorable.”

Tech mogul Elon Musk also weighed in, reposting a tweet that read, “He has been gagged by the British government and not allowed to post on the platform as a condition of his release.”

“Linehan’s crime is that he mocked transgender activism, which you are not allowed to do in the UK,” the X owner shared along with the three tweets Linehan wrote.

In an unexpected moment of bipartisan agreement, California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna also condemned the arrest, calling it “an offense to anyone who supports free speech.”

“I guess UK has not learned from the time prosecutors read passages of The Picture of Dorian Gray to convict Oscar Wilde,” the Democrat lawmaker added.

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