The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas says Zionists ‘talk like black people during slavery’

JTA – In an interview on a popular web series posted on Tuesday, rock musician Julian Casablancas alleged that “American Zionists” are deeply privileged yet behave as if they are “black people during slavery”. 

The comment appears in a 21-minute “uncut” edition of the web series SubwayTakes, in which host Kareem Rahma interviews both famous and up-and-coming New Yorkers about their most controversial opinions. 

“Well, it’s been nice having a career,” Casablancas, the frontman for the band The Strokes, said before he dived into his hot take, “American Zionists get the benefits of white privileged people, but talk like they are black people during slavery.” 

Rahma, a comedian, responded immediately, as he always does, with his personal view on the opinion, “100% agree.” 

The full-length video was posted to SubwayTakes’ YouTube channel, which has nearly one million subscribers. An abridged version without the comments about American Zionists was shared to SubwayTakes’ other channels on Instagram and TikTok, where the project’s followings are larger. 

Casablancas’s comments were not unprecedented for him. Earlier this week, his band used its final song at the Coachella music festival to condemn the US-Israeli war on Iran and Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The frontman previously signed a letter calling for a cultural boycott of Israel. 

But his discussion with Rahma pointed to how blanket criticism of “Zionists” has grown commonplace in youth-oriented and left-leaning spaces. In the comments section, some viewers said Casablancas represented a model for how artists should take a stand against Israel and its supporters. 

“Julian doubling down on criticising (american) zionists and zionism and american imperialism at large got me feeling hopeful and proud. smart, loud, and so f–king cool,” one commenter wrote on YouTube. “it truly is that easy @ everyone else in the industry.” 

The video also marked Rahma’s strongest public comments about Israel, even as neither he nor Casablancas uttered the country’s name. He previously said he asked to press then Vice-President Kamala Harris for her take on the war in Gaza, which he opposed, during her appearance on the show in 2024 but was rebuffed. 

“I’ve never seen something so shocking where they’re [saying], ‘I’m so oppressed. I’m an oppressed person’,” Rahma said after agreeing with Casablancas’s take. “I’m [saying] , ‘You are going to a wedding in Tel Aviv right now, when there are 80 000 dead people ‒ and more ‒ 80 000-plus dead people, including women and children half a mile away.’” The Gaza border is about an hour’s drive south of Tel Aviv. 

Rahma concluded, “Absolutely fucked. And you know what? I don’t think it’s bad to say that.” 

In a further explanation of his “take”, Casablancas acknowledged that the 7 October attack on Israel was “bad” and anticipated what those who disagree with him about Israel might say. “I mean, just for the people that are going to be like, ‘Hamas, Oct. 7 —’ yes, bad,” he said. “You know, Native American rebellions didn’t mean it was okay to do what we did. Slave rebellions that were violent didn’t mean that slavery is not bad. You know what I mean? So, that’s the scope of that answer … for the haters, for the media illiterate.” 

In the 21-minute SubwayTakes video, Casablancas also came out against long audio voice messages and said that conservatives and progressives need to come together and “do a non-corporate consensus populist party, fight the billionaire gang agenda villains”. 

When Rahma suggested that Americans should be allowed to stop paying taxes if the United States bombs their native country, Casablancas noted, “I know Iranian Americans that want America to bomb Iran, though.” 

Casablancas has led The Strokes since their debut album, Is This It,” in 2001, which rocketed them to rock stardom and is often pointed to as the start of the 2000s garage rock revival genre. The band has won multiple Brit Awards, and their 2021 album, The New Abnormal, won a Grammy for Best Rock Album. Casablancas has also released multiple successful solo albums. 

The Strokes’ guitarist Nick Valensi spoke with the magazine Tablet in 2018 about being the son of a religious Tunisian Jewish father and the husband to a Sephardic Jewish woman. 

Rahma, who is Egyptian-American, is also the creator of Keep the Meter Running, a web series in which he interviews cab drivers and asks them to take him to their favourite place, while keeping the meter running. In an August 2023 episode, he meets a Bukharian cab driver from Uzbekistan who takes him to 2nd Avenue Deli, a kosher staple on the Upper East Side.