Bernie Sanders introduces Clairo at Coachella, urging young Americans to “stand up for justice”
- Text by Isaac Muk
- Photography by Brookings Institution, Justin Higuchi
Coachella charmed — The Vermont Senator praised the singer-songwriter for her efforts in raising awareness of women’s rights issues and Gaza.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders introduced Clairo on Saturday at Coachella 2025, addressing the crowd with a politically charged speech.
Speaking to the thousands in attendance, plus many more streaming the festival online, he called on young people in the USA to take action and “stand up for justice”.
“This country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America depends on your generation,” he said. “You can turn away and ignore what goes on, but if you do that, you do it at your own peril.”
Sanders went on to criticise President Donald Trump’s record on climate change, saying: “[Trump] thinks climate change is a hoax. He is dangerously wrong.”
He also criticised politicians “trying to take away a woman’s right to control her own body”, as well as the USA’s “healthcare system that is broken”, and called on those listening to “stand up to the insurance companies and drug companies and understand that healthcare is a human right”.
To introduce Clairo to the stage, Sanders praised the Charm singer-songwriter for using her platform to highlight women’s rights issues, as well as the “terrible, brutal war in Gaza where thousands of women and children are being killed”.
Clairo, whose real name is Claire Cottrill, released her third album Charm last year. It led to her highest charting album to date, debuting at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2022, she wore a t‑shirt that read: “Bans Off Our Bodies” while performing at Glastonbury Festival, as well as performing at Palestine and Sudan benefit concerts in New Jersey and London.
Watch Sen. Bernie Sanders’s full address below.
Isaac Muk is Huck’s digital editor. Follow him on Bluesky.
Buy your copy of Huck 81 here.
Enjoyed this article? Follow Huck on Instagram and sign up to our newsletter for more from the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture.
Support stories like this by becoming a member of Club Huck.
You might like
The Uncanny Valley: Huck’s April Newsletter
Emma Garland reflects on what we can learn from this years’ edition of Coachella festival – the canary in the coal mine of US pop culture.
Written by: Emma Garland
A luminous portrait of Black life over six decades
Shared Memories — As staff photographer for The New York Times, Chester Higgins captured Black culture and spiritual connection like no other. A new exhibition celebrates his life and impact.
Written by: Miss Rosen
An intimate window into New York’s ’70s lesbian scene
We Others — An exhibition at The Photographer’s Gallery combines Donna Gottschalk’s unearthed photographs of LGBTQ+ activists and friends, along with Hélène Gianneccini’s written histories.
Written by: Miss Rosen
In photos: Washington DC’s Black communities facing up to gentrification
A Language We Share — A new exhibition featuring the work of Beverly Price and Gordon Parks preserves historically Black neighbourhoods in the USA, before development and economic forces made them disappear.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The Pope has declared holy war on AI
The New Butlerian Jihad — In his first encyclical letter, Pope Leo XIV addressed the increasing pervasiveness of artificial intelligence as a threat to the already fragile structures of society. Newsletter columnist Emma Garland makes sense of it all.
Written by: Emma Garland
On the frontlines of Britain’s ’80s protest movements
Protest and Equality — Against a backdrop of Thatcherism, hospital closures and global conflict, photographer Sarah Saunders was a documentarian of the long decade’s effects on society, as well as the communities actively resisting it.
Written by: Miss Rosen
