Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker has expressed his support for a Palestinian author who has been removed from Adelaide Festival‘s Writers’ Week.
READ MORE: Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker: “This is like going back to when you start a band”
The Sheffield band are set to play a free headline show at the South Australian city’s Elder Park as part of this year’s event next month.
Today (Thursday January 15) Cocker shared a post on social media to speak out for Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, a vocal critic of Israel. The writer has been taken off the line-up for Adelaide Writers’ Week, prompting significant backlash (via BBC News).
The board of the Adelaide Festival said the author’s appearance had been cancelled due to “sensitivities” after the fatal shooting at a Jewish festival at Sydney’s Bondi Beach last month.
The gunmen were allegedly inspired by the Islamic State militant group.
The festival explained that it does “not suggest in any way” that Abdel-Fattah had “any connection with the tragedy at Bondi”. However, the board said it would not be “culturally sensitive” to include her “given her past statements”.
Cocker wrote: “This is Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah. You may have heard about her: she was ‘removed’ from the Adelaide Writers’ Festival. This led to an uproar which in turn led to the collapse of the festival.
“Pulp were scheduled to play the Adelaide Music Festival on February 27th. We told the festival organisers that we wouldn’t be able to play due to the dreadful situation with Dr Randa. We were asked to delay making this statement.”
He continued: “They have now changed that situation & issued an apology to Dr Randa. Dr Randa is happy with that apology. We are happy that the situation has been dealt with & are now prepared to perform at the music festival once more.”
Cocker concluded: “This will be a free concert, open to anyone who respects the freedom of all voices to be heard. It will also be fun.”
In a separate statement, the band wrote: “Pulp were appalled to hear of the circumstances in which the Adelaide Festival board had cancelled the scheduled appearance of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, and respect those who immediately spoke out against this decision.
“We want to make it absolutely clear that Pulp refuse to condone the silencing of voices. We celebrate difference, and oppose censorship, violence and oppression in all its forms.”
The group went on to say that their management and reps had been in talks with the festival organisers since the situation was made public last week.
“Having informed them that we had decided to withdraw from the festival in support of the boycott, we were asked to delay an announcement while they sought to resolve this crisis for all sides,” the message added.
“It is our understanding that the festival programmers are now acting in good faith. The festival board that made this dreadful decision have been replaced, and a full apology has been accepted by Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, who has been invited to appear next year.
“Given this new and welcome development we feel able, in good conscience, to honour our invitation to perform in Adelaide on 27 February. We hope that our free concert will be an opportunity for different communities to come together in peace and harmony.”
Abdel-Fattah called the festival’s decision to axe her a “blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship”. She hit out at the attempt to tie her to the Bondi attack, saying it was “despicable”.
She said she would “consider the Board’s invitation to participate in 2027 Adelaide Writers’ Week at the appropriate time”. The author added: “Whilst AF’s statement acknowledges the harm done, it is not a quick fix to repair the damage and injury inflicted.” Read her full statement here.
Following the cancellation, dozens of other writers scheduled to appear on the line-up pulled out of the festival – which features a range of music, dance, theatre and other cultural events.
The list grew to 180 names earlier this week, including former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, British author Zadie Smith, Australian writer Helen Garner and British-Australian novelist Kathy Lette.
Jarvis Cocker performs with Pulp at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Pulp will be performing in Adelaide in support of their Mercury Prize-nominated 2025 album, ‘More’. The record marked the group’s first full-length project in 24 years, and earned them their first UK Number One album since 1998’s ’This Is Hardcore’.
The LP landed at Number 16 on NME‘s 50 best albums of 2025 list, with the single ‘Spike Island’ coming in at Number Nine on our 50 best songs of the year rundown.
This summer, Pulp will play their “only major UK headline concert” at Manchester’s Wythenshawe Park, before topping the bill at End Of The Road 2026. They’ll headline Mad Cool Festival in Madrid, too.
Cocker recently teased that Pulp “might write some more songs” together. The update came shortly after his bandmates Nick Banks and Candida Doyle told NME that the group were “not itching” to make another new album. “An EP, maybe, or a single,” Doyle added.
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