R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe Records Video Message for Voices for Gaza: Watch

Former R.E.M. vocalist Michael Stipe has recorded a video message for the activist group Voices for Gaza.

In the minute-long clip that was posted recently to X, formerly Twitter, by the R.E.M. HQ account, Stipe is identified as a "singer/artist."

Sporting a beard and red-tinted glasses, he says in somber tones, "In the afternoon we heard that the Taj 3 building had been bombed. We ran because my brother was there. We found the place completely destroyed. After six or seven hours we managed to get him out, but he was dead. This is the second brother I have lost. And this war has also claimed the life of another. Now it's the children's turn to die because there's no one left. My brother's four children, who lost their lives...Were like our own brothers and sisters, because we were the same age. We also extracted a boy who was raising birds. We took him out, and he was holding the bird to play with. They were face to face."

At the conclusion of Stipe's reading, it's revealed that he was reciting the words of Mohammed Al-Sharifi, a 13-year-old resident of Gaza.

The post received mostly positive responses from X users. "Utterly devastating," wrote one, who added, "Couldn't love you more for raising your inimitable voice for [Palestinian flag emoji]."

Another commented, "Maybe some words about 7 October?"

A third posted, "Heartbreaking. Thank you, Michael, for bravely shining a light on the barbaric and unrepentant murderous actions of the Israeli regime."

Another commented, "He's a humanitarian and a totally decent human being. I love him. Personally speaking, I have to avert my gaze from the terrible images I see (primarily on X/Twitter) of dead, injured and/or terrified Palestinian kids. The footage i did watch initially was too painful for me."

Stipe revealed late last year in an interview published in The New York Times Magazine that he's continuing to work on his long-in-the-works first solo album. He also staged his first museum exhibition in Italy, which ran from December to March and was titled "I have lost and I have been lost but for now I'm flying high." It featured various portraits in mediums such as photographs, book covers, ceramics, sculpture, and audio works.

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R.E.M., Michael stipe