Morrissey has cancelled two gigs in Turkey, with fans now speculating the shows were scrapped because of his apparent support of Israel.
The former Smiths frontman was due to perform in Istanbul and Ankara in December, with both gigs now showing as cancelled on Ticketmaster with no explanation yet provided by Morrissey or promoters.
The axed gigs were discussed in a thread on the fansite Morrissey Solo, with many users pointing to growing hostility toward Morrissey on X/Twitter, where a video of him holding the Israeli flag recently went viral.
Captioned: “Let me introduce: Zionist singer Morrissey, a supporter of Israel, [who] will give a concert at Volkswagen Arena on December 16. This concert should not be allowed while children are dying in Palestine. This concert must be canceled,” the clip was taken from 2012, the same year he was honoured with the key to Tel Aviv.
ÜLKEMDE SİYONİST İSTEMİYORUM!
16 Aralık’ta Volkswagen Arena’da sahne alacak Morrissey, “Israel” şarkısıyla siyonizmi övüyor.
Bu topraklarda zalimi alkışlayana yer yok!KONSER HEMEN İPTAL EDİLSİN!#BoycottMorrissey pic.twitter.com/Y1DPsjZEjn
— Yahya Sinvar (@Yahya_Sinvar_) October 8, 2025
#BoycottMorrissey pic.twitter.com/HLRgSn2UXE
— Adem Gaspak (@GaspakAdem1725) October 9, 2025
Some years later, in an interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel, he spoke of his “love of the city” and perceptions of Israel. “The rest of the world does not like Israel well,” he said. “But the people there are very generous and friendly. You should never judge a people by their government. It is very rare for the government to reflect the wishes of the people.”
He seemed to echo that sentiment on ‘Low In High School’ track ‘Israel’, in which he sings: “Israel/I can’t answer for what armies do/They are not you“, seemingly distinguishing Israeli people from their government.
However, others interpret lines: “And they who reign, abuse, upon you / Upon you
They are jealous of you as well,” and “Love yourself/As you should/Israel” as a blanket endorse of the region and its actions.
Further along in the Der Spiegel interview, Morrissey also took aim at the BDS boycott movement, calling it “absurd and narrow-minded”. “Being politically correct is incorrect. It is absurd. It means forbidding the freedom of speech. This is how the BDS movement sounds to me,” he said.
His support of Israel led many on social media to call for the gigs to be called over amid the ongoing genocide they are waging, which has led to staggering numbers of civilians deaths in Gaza, estimated to be over 60,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel rejects the genocide accusations and denies committing any war crimes, maintaining that its operations are lawful acts of self-defence following Hamas’ attack on Israeli citizens at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, which killed over 1100 people and saw 250 taken as hostages.
NME has contacted Morrissey’s live team for comment.
In other Morrissey news, he is due to headline The O2 in Greenwich on February 28, marking his only UK gig of the year. Tickets for his return to the capital went on sale at 9am this morning (October 10), and you can find any remaining tickets here.
The singer-songwriter is currently out on a North American tour, and last month, cancelled another two concerts in the US following a “credible threat” on his life.
He also recently took to his website to confirm that he had “no choice but to offer for sale all of his business interests” in The Smiths to any potential investors or parties.
He explained: “I am burnt out by any and all connections to [Johnny] Marr, [Andy] Rourke, [Mike] Joyce. I have had enough of malicious associations. With my entire life I have paid my rightful dues to these songs and these images. I would now like to live disassociated from those who wish me nothing but ill-will and destruction, and this is the only resolution.”
A subsequent update announced that the email address for offers had been “switched off” due to a “colossal response”.
Elsewhere, Morrissey revealed that he had “politely declined” an invitation to perform at Reform UK’s party conference.
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