Activists who went to a Boiler Room event in New York have reportedly been “assaulted” and “trampled” when protesting the promoter’s ties to KKR.
The group came together to protest Boiler Room’s ties to the controversial US investment firm KKR. It is the parent company of its owner Superstruct Entertainment, which has alleged investment in Israeli weapons manufacturing and its connections to Israeli settlements in the West Bank amid the country’s ongoing conflict with Palestine.
Coming together on Friday night (July 10), activists staged a “die-in” during the first of a two-night Boiler Room take over at the Under The K Bridge venue. That type of protest sees participants lie down and act dead, in an attempt to raise awareness for their cause.
The protest was organised by campaign group Boycott Room, according to MixMag, and allegedly organised to show that they were “part of the refusal to cede cultural ground to these war-profiteers”.
At the gig, some protestors were reportedly “assaulted” and “trampled” by clubbers around them, according to the campaign group. “The rave went on as usual while our martyrs’ faces were trampled with indifference,” the protest organisers alleged, also accusing Boiler Room of “endangering humans to protect their brand.”
In response, spokespeople for Boiler Room said that they were “aware of footage” from the night circulating online, and had seen a clip of what “appears to show an attendee acting towards a protester in a way that has no place at our events”.
“We respect the right to peaceful protest, and the wellbeing of everyone at our events matters to us. We’re reviewing what happened and speaking with the venue,” they added. “We’d encourage anyone who believes they have been a victim of a crime, or has information on this matter, to make themselves known to the police.”
The second of the two-night event in New York saw more demonstrations and a “counter-rave” take place nearby. More footage online seems to show one protester getting onto the stage at Boiler Room and attempting to disrupt the set, before being removed from the event.
In 2025, when Boiler Room was acquired by Superstruct Entertainment, the broadcaster distanced itself from the company’s alleged actions, saying that its staff did not have “any ownership or voting rights in the company”. It also added that “no investor, past or present, has ever influenced our output, this will never change”.
NME has reached out to Superstruct, KKR, and Boiler Room for comment.
Superstruct Entertainment also owns and operates festivals including Field Day, Mighty Hoopla, Sónar and Tramlines, for approximately $1.3billion. Since it joined with KKR, some artists have decided not to play festivals connected to the company due to the alleged investments in weapon manufacturing.
Last year, 50 artists including Massive Attack and Brian Eno, signed an open letter urging Field Day to distance itself from KKR, while another 11 artists announced later that they were boycotting Field Day festival in solidarity with Palestine.
Several festivals themselves also publicly addressed their concerns about being connected to KKR last year. Tramlines, for example, said they would “never send them a single Euro”, while Mighty Hoopla stated their “clear opposition to KKR’s unethical investments”.