The Strokes concluded their Coachella Weekend Two performance on Saturday night with a politically charged video montage that criticized U.S. foreign policy and government actions. The band played their 2016 song "Oblivius" as the screens behind them displayed imagery referencing alleged CIA-backed regime changes, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and military strikes in Iran and Gaza.
The video featured sequences of world leaders it suggested were overthrown by the CIA, including Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh (1953), Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz (1954), Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba (1961), Chilean President Salvador Allende (1973), and Bolivian President Juan José Torres (1976). It also included images of King alongside text stating, "US Govt found guilty of his murder in civil trial," referencing the 1999 civil case King v. Jowers, which found a conspiracy involving government entities. A 2000 Department of Justice review rejected these claims, finding no credible evidence of U.S. government involvement in King’s assassination.
The montage further depicted slavery, Black Lives Matter protests, and the deaths of Ecuadorian President Jaime Roldós and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos in separate plane crashes in 1981, suggesting CIA involvement. It concluded with footage of U.S. military strikes in Iran and Israeli attacks in Gaza, accompanied by text stating, "Over 30 universities destroyed in Iran." Clips of the performance quickly spread online, with one surpassing 3.7 million views on X overnight. Coachella organizers have not issued a public statement on the set.