Staatsoper Hannover Bans Colin Self from Saying "Genocide" and "Apartheid" on Stage and Orders Removal of "FREE GAZA" Sticker

In Dezember 2023, I was told by the administration team of the Staatsoper Hannover that I would have to remove or cover a sticker on my computer reading “FREE GAZA,” because they feared bad faith actors in the audience would distribute a photo or video of it, causing a press scandal.

When I told them I was not okay with covering the sticker, and that it has been on my computer and visible onstage for a reason long before October 7, they doubled down and said they wanted to protect me as the artist for people to focus on the art and not on my sticker, although the work itself is dealing exactly with these same subjects. After I sent a follow-up email and we had a Zoom meeting about it, the team reiterated that this was about press, optics and the fragility of politics at this moment.

I told them that this is the problem itself: institutions themselves are too afraid to platform any criticism of Israel because they will be canceled and defunded – a silencing that then transfers as this silencing of the artist. I was also told weeks prior to this event that I was not allowed to say the words “genocide” or “apartheid” onstage because one of the organizers didn't believe what was happening in Gaza was apartheid or genocide (yet).