Tom Morelloused his set atDownload Festival 2026to send a message to the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
TheRage Against The MachineandAudioslaveguitarist playedon the Opus Stageat the Donington Park festival this weekend (June 14), andtook the chancewhile playing for a big UK crowd to share his feelings aboutRobinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Morello played a set of provocative, politically-fuelled songs, including ‘Killing In The Name’ and ‘Soldier In The Army Of Love’, as well as Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Mr. Crowley’ andJohn Lennon’s ‘PowerToThePeople’.
For the show, he had written in large letters on the back of the body of his guitar, “FUCK TOMMY ROBINSON”, with the big screens picking up the message. Morello later reposted a photo of the image on his X account – see below.
RATM guitarist Tom Morello’s message at Download Festival this weekend. pic.twitter.com/5oMTg9936K
— Antifa_Ultras (@ultras_antifaa) June 14, 2026
Morello is no stranger to picking fights with right wing British leaders – in 2018,Rage Against TheMachine hit out at Nigel Farage, branding him a “pissweasel” for co-opting their name for his podcast ‘Farage Against The Machine’.
“ThispissweaselIS the machine – peddling the sort of inane, blame-heavy bullshit that the guys in RATM have been raging against since day one,” the band said.
Later that year, Morello said:“I am open to accidentally giving Nigel a dry slap, if I encounter him on the tube. Though I doubt he rides the tube for fear of all the dry slaps he would receive.”
At a show supportingMusein 2019, Morello continued his vendetta against Farage, and presaged his Robinson attack,by taping a sign to the back of his guitarthat read “FUCK FARAGE”.
Morello is curating the Power To The People festival in October in Maryland, withBruce Springsteen,Foo Fighters,Joan BaezandSystem of a Down’sSerj Tankianall set to perform. It is described as “a non-partisan celebration of peace, justice, solidarity, music and community action”, and you can read more about it here.
Morello alsojoined Springsteen at every date of his ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ tour of the USearlier this year,duetting with him on‘Purple Rain’,‘Chimes Of Freedom’ and others.
In 2024, hespoke toNMEbackstage at Download Festival about the power of music to spark political change, and listed hisall timefavouriteprotest songs.“Off the top of my head, someof myfavouriteswould be ‘Imagine’ byJohn Lennon, ‘Biko’ byPeter Gabriel, ‘FightThePower’ byPublic Enemy. There are also probably a few Rage Against The Machine Songs that make the list too…” he said.