New reporting from the Washington Post reveals that The Rolling Stones have dropped the verse containing the line “who killed the Kennedys’ from their classic ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ on the current ‘Hackney Diamonds’ US tour.
In new reporting from The Washington Post reporter Paul Schwartzman noted the verse has been completed dropped from The Stones live performances and video footage from various shows supports the report.
Verse three of the song goes:
“I watched with glee while your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades for the gods they made
I shouted out, “Who killed the Kennedys?”
Well, after all, it was you and me”
On the 2024 shows Mick Jagger is going from the “Stuck around St Petersburg’ verse to the “Just as every cop is a criminal’ verse with the Kennedys verse Missing In Action.
This isn’t the first time The Rolling Stones have edited themselves. In 2021 the classic ‘Brown Sugar’ vanished from the setlist after 50 years because it is now considered “too sensitive”. The Stones overreacted to 2021 criticism of a 1971 song with critics who weren’t even born when the song came out calling it “gross, sexist, and stunningly offensive towards black women”.
Keith Richards confirmed to the LA Times that the band did drop the song because of the backlash.
‘Brown Sugar’ was retired after its last Stones performance on 30 August 2019 at the Miami Gardens in Florida.
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