- Martin stopped the performance when he saw a man heading to the stage
- The man in question turned out to be an Israeli social media personality
This is the moment Coldplay frontman Chris Martin was forced to suddenly stop the band’s performance in Athens when an Israeli social media personality tried to storm the stage.
The band was performing in the Greek capital during the European leg of their ‘Music of the Spheres’ tour when Martin spotted the audience member, draped in an Israeli flag, on his way to the set.
Dramatic footage captured the moment Martin, 47, shushed the band and shouted “stop, stop, stop!” started shouting. at the oncoming man, who fell while trying to clamber over a lighting rig close to the edge of the stage.
Martin and guitarist Johnny Buckland were seen running to the edge of the set, where they looked down at the person desperate to take the stage as crew members and security swarmed the stage.
It later emerged that the man in question was comedian Guy Hochman, who shared clips of himself waving his country’s flag in the crowd before making his ill-fated attempt that ultimately ended in a broken rib.
Hochman, 35, was recently convicted of joking about the killing of Palestinians during the war between Israel and Hamas and criticized for filming skits on the subject, one of which featured him giving a “tour” of a damaged hotel in Gaza while he was on vacation. a patrol with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
He revealed on social media that his failed attempt to storm the stage was part of a protest in which he planned to wrap Martin in his country’s colors.
The band has routinely condemned the prevalence of genocide in various speeches and interviews, seen by many as a commentary on the horrors unfolding in Gaza.
Martin sees Hochman trying to climb the lighting rig at the foot of the stage
Martin and guitarist Johnny Buckland were seen running to the edge of the set, where they looked down at the person desperate to take the stage as crew members and security swarmed the stage.
Lead singer of Coldplay Chris Martin is pictured. The band has routinely condemned the prevalence of genocide in various speeches and interviews, seen by many as a commentary on the horrors unfolding in Gaza.
Hochman wrote on social media after the incident how he didn’t know any Coldplay songs, but attended the concert with fellow Israelis and orchestrated a way to get on stage in a move he called “Operation Athens.”
He also said he sang “Bring Them Home” between songs – referring to the Israeli hostages still in Gaza – and compared his negotiation of obstacles between the crowd and the stage to enduring a Nazi concentration camp .
‘We were at a Coldplay concert in Athens yesterday, don’t know any of their songs… We wait for silence between songs and then all the critters sing Bring Dem Home!’
Referring to himself, he continued: “Chief smile officer begins his life’s mission: conquer the stage and wrap the singer in the Israeli flag.”
Speaking as a sports commentator about his failed attempt, he said: ‘He’s over the fence and looking good. I’m going to the first phase and looking good. Another fence, as well as a few obstacles, this is a stage or Auschwitz.
“And here’s the final step: I’ll be there soon and smell Chris Martin’s sweat. Here it comes, here I am making history. TREE! I fell. Right rib gone.”
Hochman sparked major controversy early this year when he entered Gaza with a unit of IDF troops and referred to the location as “Southern Israel.”
In a sketch called “Tourism Blogger in Gaza: POV,” Hochman jokingly showed viewers around a badly damaged hotel that he presented as the ‘Gush Katif Hotel’, referring to a block of Jewish settlements in Gaza that were evacuated in 2005.
He was criticized for supporting the resettlement of Israelis on Palestinian territory and for mocking the devastating consequences of the war.