Coldplay’s Chris Martin thanked his Indian fans for ‘forgiving us for all the bad things Britain has done’ at his show in Mumbai on Saturday.
The English band took to the stage in India for only the second time over the weekend, after last performing there in 2016.
Frontman Chris, 47, used the gig on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour as an opportunity to make his thoughts on British colonialism known.
The British crown ruled on the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. Known as the British Raj, the period saw Indians suffer extreme poverty and famines as a result.
Speaking to the crowd at D. Y. Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Chris said: ‘Thank you for coming. It’s amazing to us that you welcome us even though we are from Great Britain.
‘Thank you for forgiving us for all of the bad things Great Britain has done and welcoming us into your home.’
Coldplay’s Chris Martin thanked his Indian fans for ‘forgiving us for all the bad things Britain has done’ at his show in Mumbai on Saturday
The English band took to the stage in India for only the second time over the weekend, after last performing there in 2016
He added: ‘This is our fourth visit to India, and the second time to play. First time we played a long show and we could not have asked for a better audience. Thank you for coming today everybody.’
Fans of the star praised him for his comments and urged the Government to follow suit, as they took to X, formerly Twitter, to say: ‘That’s just Chris Martin being Chris Martin (love heart eyes),’;
‘Chris Martin apologising for colonialism has healed us all,’;
‘One of the nicest gestures by Chris Martin was acknowledging for all the bad things done by British. Such acknowledgements by the UK Government would be nice as well!! And the loudest cheers to Jai Shri Ram,’;
‘This may not be the apology tour India deserves but it’s better than nothing. Let’s this be a lesson to all. Money and power talks loudest. They are appeasing India. Continuing economic development is the only way,’;
‘To those that condemn this, know that having some cultural humility, historical awareness and general decency does not mean that you are ashamed to be British,’;
‘This is Chris martin apologizing for things he might not be responsible directly, but look at the reception. this is how you say sorry.’
But not everyone appreciated his speech, as some people raged that India had in fact not forgiven them while others slammed him for apologising to begin with.
Frontman Chris, 47, used the gig on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour as an opportunity to make his thoughts on British colonialism known
Fans of the star praised him for his comments and urged the Government to follow suit, as they took to X, formerly Twitter, to say: ‘That’s just Chris Martin being Chris Martin (love heart eyes)’
Speaking to the crowd at D. Y. Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Chris said: ‘Thank you for coming. It’s amazing to us that you welcome us even though we are from Great Britain’
They said: ‘Chris Martin, colonialism wasn’t a cute little oopsie for India to ‘forgive.’ It was genocide, exploitation, and centuries of theft. Spare us your privileged ignorance and stick to your mediocre singing and leave history out of your mouth,’;
‘LOL. Not Chris Martin thinking that attending his concert in Mumbai meant “forgiving Great Britain for all the bad things”,’;
‘Making fool of naive audience… Nothing else,’;
‘Chris martin apologising for colonisation feels so weird like bro you didn’t do anything don’t apologise lmao.’
The band’s show also saw Chris walking hand-in-hand with his fiance Dakota Johnson as the pair dispelled split rumours.
Chris and Dakota made a joint appearance at the Babulnath Temple in Mumbai, much to the delight of fans.
In a video shared by pH๏τographer Pallav Paliwal, the stars were seen descending the stairs of the temple as they were greeted by locals.
Dakota had on a blue headscarf as she walked first with Chris in a white jacket as he followed closely behind while several security personnel surrounded them.
But not everyone appreciated his speech, as some people raged that India had in fact not forgiven them while others slammed him for apologising to begin with
The band’s show also saw Chris walking hand-in-hand with his fiance Dakota Johnson as the pair dispelled split rumours
In August it was claimed that the lovebirds – who started a romance in 2017 – had chosen to call it quits.
But it appears they have sorted out their issues in time for what has been called Coldplay’s biggest concert ever.
The stars reportedly called off their engagement five months ago when she stopped wearing her emerald engagement ring.
The pair had a brief rumoured split in 2019 which was alleged to be over him pushing for them to have children, but they quickly got back together.
The couple appeared to be together in June when a source told PEOPLE magazine that they were still ‘going strong’, saying: ‘They’ve had ups and downs, but now they’re definitely back on.’