Wembley Arena is facing a backlash after it staged an ‘insulting’ Trump-hating protest gig featuring Hollywood A-listers and left-wing luvvies.
Benedict Cumberbatch took to the stage alongside the likes of Paloma Faith, Damon Albarn and Richard Gere at the OVO Arena for Wednesday’s Together for Palestine show.
The sold-out rally, backed by a host of other British TV, film and music stars including Guy Pearce, Bastille and Louis Theroux, was aimed at raising cash for charities helping Palestinians caught up in the war between Israel and Hamas.
But the star-studded benefit gig, which had struggled to find a venue after others declined to host it, clashed with the opening day of Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK.
And it saw criticism levelled at the US President by Pretty Woman icon, Richard Gere, who blasted ‘enablers’ of the ‘genocide’ in Gaza and said Trump had the power to ‘stop the craziness’ in ‘one day’ – which led to crowds booing the president.
‘Of course, Netanyahu has to go. All the enablers have to go, also,’ Gere said. ‘There’s one man who could stop this thing in one day. He says he can stop wars in one day, my president Trump.
‘In one day he could stop all this craziness. Netanyahu needs the US, needs Trump so badly. One day, if he wants a Nobel Peace prize this is the way to get it.’
But the show has led to a furious backlash from one of London’s top politicians, who branded the whole show an ‘insult’ to Mr Trump.
Paloma Faith was among some of the stars to appear at the fundraising gig, which was branded an ‘insult’ to President Donald Trump
Laura Whitmore speaks onstage during the Together For Palestine concert at Wembley Arena
‘They’re a damn disgrace. Whether you like Trump or not, he has been democratically elected by our neighbours the United States and we should be honoured he is here and wants to do trade deals,’ Susan Hall, Tory group leader at City Hall told the Mail.
‘This childish politics of the Left – I’ve just about had enough of it. These damn lefties couldn’t run a bath, and they certainly could run a country.
‘Doing it on the same day as the president’s state visit is meant as an insult to Donald Trump and shame on them. He’s the most powerful man certainly in the Western world and he deserves our respect… I’m livid. This is a damn disgrace.’
The show took place about 20 miles from Windsor Castle, where Mr Trump and his wife Melania had earlier been welcomed by the King and Queen as part of the American leader’s unprecedented second state visit.
The aid gig was hosted by British comedian Guz Khan, who has a history of political remarks and anti-Israel tweets, which have seen him accusing the Jewish state of ‘genocide’ and ‘ethnic’ cleansing.
The Coventry-born comic has previously come under fire after bagging a plum job of hosting Have I Got News For You despite his controversial outbursts, which included a racially-charged jibe on X about Priti Patel that led to him being dropped by Uber Eats.
News of his appearance on the BBC One panel show sparked outrage, with one Beeb staffer saying they were ‘lost for words’ he had been booked given the high probability the conflict in Gaza will be mentioned on satirical current affairs show.
Richard Gere also took to the stage as one of the A-list celebrities seeking to speak out
Former Roxy Music synth player Brian Eno was part of the team who set up the Wembley charity gig.
The 77-year-old musician previously campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn to become Labour’s leader back in 2015, releasing a series of gushing comments about the left-wing politician.
‘I’ve often been on platforms with Jeremy and thought: Don’t you have a social life? What about the coke and the orange bras and so on?’ he said at the time. ‘What I really thought was, what a great guy to be there.’
In fact, Eno is such an avid Corbynista he once bought the former Labour leader’s hat for £250.
However, speaking ahead of Wednesday’s event in Wembley, Eno admitted the show had initially struggled to find a venue willing to host the politically-charged gig.
‘I and others have been working for a year to bring the concert to life,’ he told the Guardian. ‘Even finding a venue proved challenging: the mere mention of the word ‘Palestine’ was a near-certain precursor to refusal.’
Also among those appearing at the Palestine show was Blur frontman Damon Albarn, who previously lectured music lovers about Gaza during last year’s Glastonbury festival.
During a surprise appearance at Worthy Farm alongside Bombay Bicycle Club, Albarn ranted to the thousands gathered at the 2024 showcase: ‘You have to show me how you feel about it – are you pro Palestine? Do you feel that’s an unfair war?
Harrow-educated Benedict Cumberbatch also appeared on the stage at the show
Meanwhile, Harrow-educated Cumberbatch has previously aired his liberal views, which once saw the Marvel star taking to the stage after a performance of Hamlet to rant at audiences they should donate money to Syrian refugees, ending his speech with the cry ‘**** politicians’.
And Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories who has so angered the Trump administration that it has imposed sanctions on her, received a standing ovation when she spoke.
Outside Wednesday’s show in Wembley, supporters held up huge Palestine flags, while the fans filing into the venue wore T-shirts, badges and jackets also bearing the flag and slogans in support of Palestine.
As well as music performances there were also a number of poems and speeches at the gig, which is believed to have raised well in excess of £500,000 for charity.
Pensioner Stephen Kapos, a Holocaust survivor who was grilled by police after laying flowers during a Gaza rally in March, told of the parallels he saw between the plight of Palestinians and the horrors he saw while living under the Nazi regime as a boy.
‘I know what it means to be stripped of dignity, of land, of home,’ he said. ‘That is why I remain steadfast in my commitment to the Palestinian people. Their struggle for freedom, justice and return is not separate from mine. It is a part of the same cry for humanity.’
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded Israel had ‘flagrantly disregarded’ international law and ‘orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now’.
The statement marked the first time a UN body had reached such a damning conclusion, and was ‘the strongest and most authoritative UN finding to date’, the study’s authors said.
However, Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the publication as an ‘antisemitic… distorted and false report’ and added that Hamas’s October 7 massacre in 2023 was itself ‘attempted genocide’, which had claimed the lives of around 1,200 Israelis.
Pictured are some of those in attendance at the gig in Wembley on Wednesday
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘The Together for Palestine concert at Wembley Arena was a deeply concerning display of one-sided rhetoric and inflammatory falsehoods against the world’s only Jewish state.
‘Comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany at the event constituted grotesque Holocaust inversion, explicitly recognised as antisemitic under the International Definition of Antisemitism.
‘Speakers including Mehdi Hasan and Francesca Albanese promoted baseless claims of “genocide,” while completely ignoring Hamas’ atrocities and the ongoing hostage crisis.
‘By failing to address the true origins of the conflict and by glorifying Palestinian “resistance” without condemning terror, the event gave cover to antisemitism and delegitimisation of Israel.
‘Celebrities who lent their platforms to such messaging may have intended to show solidarity with suffering, but in doing so they amplified falsehoods and fuelled hatred.’
Daily Mail has approached Legends Global, which is responsible for shows at Wembley’s OVO Arena, for comment.