Jewish organisations call for German venues to cancel Roger Waters concerts over antisemitism accusations
Several Jewish organisations have petitioned German venues to cancel Roger Waters’ forthcoming concerts over allegations of antisemitic sentiments espoused by the former Pink Floyd musician.
Earlier in the week, Frankfurt city council cancelled his planned performance on May 28th, with a public statement that denounced Waters as “one of the most far-reaching anti-Semites in the world.” Since then, Jewish organisations have urged other venues to follow suit.
Waters is set to perform five shows in Germany this May as part of his global This is Not a Drill tour. German politicians and organisations, however, have called for the country to lead the way in preventing the 79-year-old from performing.
Frankfurt had previously leapt into action given the special significance of the planned venue. Waters’ concert was booked at the Festhalle site where 3000 Jewish men were detained by Nazi forces in 1938. This historical connection to antisemitism resulted in local backlash given the accusations surrounding Waters and the authorities stepped in to blockade the show.
Now, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency have issued a statement announcing: “The background to the cancellation is the persistent anti-Israel behaviour of the former Pink Floyd frontman, who is considered one of the most widely spread antisemites in the world.”
Adding: “He repeatedly called for a cultural boycott of Israel and drew comparisons to the apartheid regime in South Africa and put pressure on artists to cancel events in Israel.”
In recent times, Waters has also claimed that Russia were provoked into invading Ukraine, extolled a rhetoric of media lies, and he has even spoken on Russia’s behalf at a UN conference.
This led David Gilmour and his wife, Polly Samson, to call out these claims and distance the band from Waters’ controversial assertions. “Sadly, Roger Waters you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” Samson tweeted. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”
Soon after, Gilmore supported Samson’s comments, adding: “Every word demonstrably true.”
As of yet, Waters hasn’t responded and has remained silent over the calls to cancel all of his concerts in Germany. While he has received some backing from fans on social media, the majority of the discourse presently is condemning the star and many sources believe that the concerts will be cancelled.
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