With a band like Muse, it's hard to tell what they mean by "fuck the government" since all of their boneless lyrics are so vague (though in recent years, it's been pretty easy to infer that they might not be so hot on vaccines). Despite this, some of their stances have become clearer as they've cancelled a show in Istanbul due to the promoter accusing protesters of treason.
For context, there's been a slew of protests in Türkiye recently after Istanbul's mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, was imprisoned on corruption charges, as per BBC. Imamoglu aims to run against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2028, and some believe he was charged as a political move from the incumbent. Since then, thousands of protesters have been arrested.
DBL Entertainment — the promotion company that was supposed to host the Muse show — is run by Turkish businessman Abdülkadir Özkan. As protesters began boycotting companies associated with the president, Özkan called out demonstrators on Twitter, saying, "Plain and simple, this is hostility towards the capital. Act of treason."
Since then, fans have been calling acts with upcoming Turkish shows under DBL to cancel shows. Muse responded to the outcry today (April 2), saying in a statement, "After careful consideration and hearing the feedback from our fans whilst fully respecting their concerns, our show in Istanbul will be now postponed until 2026 so we can ensure DBL Entertainment will not be involved."
Muse are not the only ones who were asked to cancel shows with DBL. Robbie Williams is also subject to the same calls, and Trevor Noah also cancelled a show to be hosted by the firm, though he didn't state an official reason for pulling out.