Billy Joel wore a yellow Star of David in protest against neo-Nazis and white supremacy at his concert on Monday, following the violence at Charlottesville.

Joel, who was born to Jewish parents, donned the symbolic badge on the front and back of his jacket during his performance at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Joel's father, also a pianist, managed to flee Germany, though his remaining relatives were killed in the Holocaust.

The Jewish people were forced to wear the yellow stars as a form of identification in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Joel had previously told Rolling Stone in June that he prefers to stay out of politics. "I am a private citizen and I have a right to believe in my own political point of view, but I try not to get up on a soapbox and tell people how to think," he said. "I've been to shows where people start haranguing the audience about what's going on politically and I'm thinking, 'You know, this isn't why I came here.'"

However, Charlottesville's white supremacist rally and the disturbing comments made by Donald Trump, stating that there were "very fine people" on both sides, clearly call for extraordinary circumstances.

During the show, Joel also invited Patty Smyth of the band Scandal on stage to perform the group's hit "Goodbye to You", as photos of ex-White house officials appeared onscreen, including Steve Bannon and Sean Spicer.



"And on the day of the Solar Eclipse a yellow star appeared on the jacket of another kind of star with a clinched fist that seemed to be gripping painful, no excruciating, memories of loved ones who wore that star to their death," Joel's ex-wife, model Christie Brinkley, wrote in support in an Instagram post.

"May that star also remind you today of the gold stars pinned to the jackets of soldiers for their bravery and valor for fighting an evil so hideous even the gold stars in the sky were afraid to shine. Thank you, Billy for reminding people what was ...so it may never ever be again."