Julian Casablancas targets American Jews in most…
Julian Casablancas, the frontman of the long-lasting band The Strokes, ignited a firestorm on social media this week after claiming that “American Zionists” act like “they are Black people during slavery” in a controversial interview that’s now blowing up online.
“Well it’s been nice having a career,” Casablancas quipped before dropping the comment during an look on the YouTube sequence “SubwayTakes,” hosted by Kareem Rahma.
SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma and Julian Casablancas YouTube
The rocker went on to argue that “American Zionists get the benefits of white privileged people, but talk like they are black people during slavery.” Rahma didn’t push back—instead, he agreed “100%” and added his own critique about perceived sufferer hood in the context of the conflict in Gaza.
“I’m like, ‘You are going to a wedding in Tel Aviv right now when there are 80,000 plus dead people, including women and children half a mile away,’” Rahma responded. “Absolutely f—ked.”
The feedback didn’t come out of nowhere.
Just days earlier, Casablancas and his band used their closing set at the Coachella Valley music pageant to slam US international coverage and Israel’s navy marketing campaign — half of a growing sample of political statements from the singer.
The video montage that The Strokes performed at the end of their set last weekend depicted a college being blown up, which was captioned “last university standing in Gaza.” Then the members acquired up and left the stage while the clip continued taking part in.
Julian Casablancas of The Strokes performs during the first weekend of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Indio, California. Amy Harris/Invision/AP
The Coachella star, notoriously anti-Trump, grew up a wealthy child in New York City and socialized with the president when he was youthful.
Casablancas appeared to have anticipated some backlash from the incendiary feedback. “I mean, just for the people that are going to be like, ‘Hamas, October 7th,’ um, yes, bad,” Casablancas said before pivoting to comparisons of historic uprisings.
“You know, Native American rebellions didn’t mean it was, you know, okay to do what we did,” he rambled. “Slave rebellions that were violent didn’t mean that, you know, slavery is not bad.”
If something, the reason only fueled controversy and confusion. Reaction to the feedback has been predictably explosive and deeply divided. Some followers praised the singer for “speaking out” and called him “brilliant” for his “take of the year.”
“Julian doubling down on criticizing (American) zionists and zionism and American imperialism at large got me feeling hopeful and proud,” read one YouTube remark. “Smart, loud, and so f—king cool.”
Others have been less impressed.
On Reddit, critics blasted the remarks as tone deaf and “gross,” with some accusing the rhetoric of veering into antisemitism.
“For him to shrug off Oct 7 like a slave rebellion is a depraved moral inversion,” one Redditor commented. “A white nepo baby is talking about privilege… how rich…,” another commented on Instagram.
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