The Strokes wrapped up their Coachella set Saturday night by using the festival\u2019s massive onstage LED screens to display a political protest against foreign interventions by the U.S.<\/p>\n
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During the second weekend of the annual Southern California festival, the group made its stance unmistakable as it ended on a performance of the 2016 song \u201cOblivius\u201d \u2014 accompanied by a montage showing confirmed and suspected instances of CIA involvement in overthrowing foreign governments.<\/p>\n
Bright mosque imagery on the screens gave way to a portrait of Iran\u2019s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, whose removal from power in 1953 has since been confirmed by declassified U.S. documents as a CIA-orchestrated coup carried out in coordination with Britain.<\/p>\n
The images continued as lead singer Julian Casablancas sang the lyrics \u201cWhat side you standing on?\u201d<\/p>\n
Clips of the performance spread rapidly online, with one clip<\/a> surpassing 3.7 million views on X overnight. Coachella organizers have not issued a public statement on the set and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n The American band went on to spotlight CIA and Belgian plots against Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected prime minister of the Congo, as well as CIA-engineered overthrows of Bolivian President Juan Jos\u00e9 Torres and Guatemalan President Jacobo \u00c1rbenz.<\/p>\n The montage also pointed to alleged CIA involvement in the overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende and the plane-crash deaths of Panamanian military leader Omar Torrijos and Ecuadorian President Jaime Rold\u00f3s Aguilera (spelled on screen as \u201cJaime Rondos\u201d).<\/p>\n It further highlighted suspected government involvement in Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s assassination, with an on-screen title accusing the U.S. government of being \u201cfound guilty of his murder in civil trial.\u201d<\/p>\n The Department of Justice, following its own investigation, concluded that the evidence did not support the jury\u2019s 1999 civil verdict that \u201cothers, including government agencies,\u201d participated in a conspiracy to assassinate King.<\/p>\n The Strokes\u2019 visual protest closed on footage stating that more than 30 universities in Iran have been struck since U.S.-Israeli airstrikes began earlier this year \u2014 a figure reported by Iran\u2019s Ministry of Science and Technology \u2014 followed by a clip of Al-Israa University, the last standing university in the Gaza Strip before Israeli forces demolished it in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n The band is the latest act to denounce Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza on a global stage, as a growing number of artists have publicly voiced concern for Palestinians in recent years. During the first weekend of this year\u2019s Coachella, singer Gigi Perez called for a \u201cfree Palestine\u201d<\/a> while simultaneously condemning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At last year\u2019s Coachella, Irish hip-hop group Kneecap performed <\/a>in front of a screen with the words \u201cF— Israel, Free Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n Similar political commentary reached the stage at last year\u2019s Glastonbury Festival, where Kneecap and English punk duo Bob Vylan came under fire for leading the audience in chants<\/a> supporting Palestinians and condemning Israel.<\/p>\n During Saturday\u2019s set, the Strokes continued to be outspoken. In one moment that has now become a viral clip online<\/a>, singer Casablancas told the crowd he had been \u201ctempted to come out tonight with a laptop and show you guys some of those Iran Lego videos\u201d \u2014 a reference to AI-generated clips produced by Iranian groups using Lego-style figures<\/a> to criticize the United States and share pro-Iran messaging.<\/p>\n \u201cMore facts than your local news. But they were taken down,\u201d he said, blaming \u201cYouTube or government or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n YouTube confirmed to NBC News that it removed Explosive Media \u2014 the Iran-based channel responsible for most of the videos \u2014 from the platform last month for \u201cviolating our spam, deceptive practices and scams policies.\u201d The group\u2019s Instagram account also appeared to have been temporarily taken down<\/a> in March, although it\u2019s back online now.<\/p>\n \u201cLand of the free, am I right?\u201d Casablancas said.<\/p>\n