Thrash metal band Megadeth and hip hop star CeeLo Green joined a growing list of entertainers on Tuesday whose scheduled concerts in Israel have been cancelled amid the Gaza crisis.
Los Angeles-based Megadeth was due to play in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, but on its website the group said it wasn’t able to secure a guarantee that it could make it.
“The band was looking forward to this concert and is disappointed they will not be able to put on the show for their fans, but expects to return to Tel Aviv on their next international tour,” it said.
Organisers, meanwhile, scrubbed what would have been rapper Green’s first concert in Israel, on August 19 in occupied Jerusalem, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“Unfortunately we were the ones who had to postpone it because this is not the right time to advertise and push a concert,” the showbiz trade journal quoted promoter Carmi D. Wurtman as saying.
Chart-toppers Lana Del Rey and Lady Gaga remain scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv on August 20 and September 13 respectively.
But others whose Israeli gigs have been cancelled include Canadian rock icon Neil Young, the 1970s soft rock band America, the enduring 1990s boy band Backstreet Boys, and prog rock combo Kansas.
Israel has been a popular stop for international artists on summer European tours, but pro-Palestinian groups have been stepping up a social media campaign urging performers to boycott the state.
