London's O2 issues apology for confiscating Palestine shirts from fans at Lorde show

The O2 arena in London has issued an apology for confiscating Palestine shirts from two women at a Lorde show.

30-year-olds Francesca Humi and Chloe Grace Laws were separately attending the London gig of Lorde's Ultrasound tour. They were both wearing FC Palestina football shirts, which displayed the word "Palestine."

Humi and Laws were reportedly each stopped by venue security, who told them they would have to take off the shirts or be ejected from the gig.

The O2 staff allegedly claimed it was against their policies for attendees to wear clothing items bearing names, flags or symbols of individual countries, as it could offend others.

A spokesperson for The O2 has now acknowledged there is no such policy, as the venue has no rules against "any specific items of clothing, including those that display or highlight social causes, religion, political or nationality."

"We don’t get every decision right, all of the time, and regrettably on this occasion, the wrong judgment call was made in relation to two individuals," the spokesperson said.

"This was the result of a misinterpretation of the policies that we have in place and our escalation procedures were not followed correctly. For that, we sincerely apologise."

Steve Sayer, senior vice president and general manager of The O2, reportedly offered to reimburse both Humi's and Laws' tickets and expenses from the night of the gig. Humi said she will donate any reimbursement to an organisation supporting Palestine.

Humi recounted her experience in a post on Instagram, writing that she and her friend were already inside the venue when she was individually "pulled aside by security" who told her the shirt was "harmful and offensive" and demanded it be removed.

"Two security staff explained to us the O2 does not allow any country or football kit to be worn inside," Humi said.

"I asked whether they would ask someone to remove a tshirt with a Union Jack on it and they said they would. Meanwhile, we saw multiple football / national themed shirts in the crowd. Because I wouldn’t remove my top and they wouldn’t allow me to keep it in my bag, they called in a security manager who told me I needed to remove the tshirt or I would be 'ejected' from the venue.

"I honestly can’t believe wearing a shirt that says 'Palestine' is considered so dangerous that it needs to be removed. I suppose Zionism is so fragile that one girl in a football jersey at a concert threatens their power?"

 

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Laws penned a piece for Novara Media, in which she described being told the shirt "could 'cause offence', despite no publicly available policy banning such items."

"I said I would remove the shirt, as I had a jumper in my bag," Laws said.

"The guard told me that if I didn’t, I would be escorted out. Even though I complied, she radioed for additional security...  When I asked what rule I had broken and questioned how appropriate this was, given I was simply wearing a football t-shirt, I was told it was about 'making sure everyone can have a nice time'."

Laws said she was escorted to the cloakroom by a security guard who told her he "obviously agreed" with her, but it was a matter of policy. He reportedly added that Israeli flags were banned at an October show by Haim, who are Jewish.

The O2 spokesperson said that although some event organisers may impose specific extra restrictions, Lorde's two concerts at the venue were not subject to any such measures.

The spokesperson added The O2 plans to review its procedures and training to prevent a repeat instance.

The wording of The O2's apology statement was similar to another issued in August 2024 after a man was refused entry to a Peter Kay show for wearing a shirt reading "free Gaza."

Security at the time told the man his shirt was "against policy," but The O2 later apologised and claimed staff had "made a judgement call and got it wrong."

Lorde has been vocal about her support for Palestine on stage and off; at a New York gig in October, she led a chant of "free Palestine" and as the stage was lit with the colours of the Palestinian flag.

Lorde also joined the No Music for Genocide boycott, removing her music from streaming services in Israel, alongside KNEECAP, Fontaines D.C., Björk, Paramore, Wolf Alice and more.

Lorde is set to play her first-ever headline Irish show at Dublin's RDS Simmonscourt on Saturday, November 22.