Jack Antonoff defends Lorde from Israel gig heckles during charity concert

[thunderball]

Jack Antonoff leapt to the defence of Lorde after she was heckled by a fan who objected to her decision to cancel a concert in Israel.

The New Zealand singer, 21, sat beside Jack at a piano as they performed at a star-studded charity event at New York's Town Hall in aid of LGBTQ charity the Ally Coalition on Wednesday (24Jan18).

Midway through Lorde's set, a heckler shouted, "In Israel, they're nice too!", referencing her controversial decision to cancel a gig in the Jewish state after coming under pressure from anti-Israel activists.

In response to the heckle, Jack stood up from the piano and said, "No, no, we've raised a s**t-ton of money tonight. F**k that negativity."

Jack, who confirmed he'd split from Lena Dunham, his girlfriend of five years, earlier this month, has been rumoured to be romancing the Royals singer, and he did little to quell speculation by praising her during an appearance on U.S. TV.

Talking about they had bonded while he was helping her produce her latest album Melodrama, he told late night host Seth Meyers, "I was sort of doing nothing in New York, and we did this thing where for five days in a row we just kept having dinner every night, just getting to know each other."

Discussing how Lorde had broadened his horizons, he added: "We've introduced each other to a lot of things because it's a vastly different culture in New Zealand (than) the United States. I think in the United States we have a tendency to think, 'This is it.' Like, for example, I have an Italian friend and I was like, 'Italian wedding soup! The best, right?' and they were like, 'That's not a thing in Italy.'"

Lorde has also spoken about her closeness to the 33-year-old musician, telling Billboard magazine they FaceTimed "every day", and that they were close enough to consider buying each other Christmas presents.

However, Jack previously hit back at the romance rumours between him and Lorde, tweeting: "Normally I would never address rumours but I resent having the most important friendships and working relationships in my life reduced to dumb hetero (sic) normative gossip. those relationships are deeply important and sacred. with that said, im not seeing anyone. lol (laugh out loud)."

Lorde then retweeted his message.