German City Cancels Roger Waters Concert, Calls Him Antisemitic

Frankfurt, Germany has canceled an upcoming Roger Waters concert, citing antisemitism as the reason.

“The background to the cancellation is the persistent anti-Israel behavior of the former Pink Floyd frontman, who is considered one of the most widely spread antisemites in the world,” the city said in a statement, translated by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “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.”

Waters is currently on the European leg of his This Is Not A Drill tour and is scheduled to perform in four other German cities: Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin and Munich.

The news comes after Waters' former Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour cosigned his wife Polly Samson's claims of the singer-songwriter being antisemitic, among other things.

“Sadly @rogerwaters you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” she tweeted earlier this month. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching,misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”

Gilmour then quoted her tweet with his approval, writing: “Every word demonstrably true.”

Someone in Waters' camp shared a statement on Twitter addressing the accusations that reads: "Roger Waters is aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments made about him on Twitter by Polly Samson which he refutes entirely. He is currently taking advice as to his position."

Waters has been outspoken about his politics and views on the Russia-Ukraine war, and a recent interview is what sparked Samson's comments. In the interview, Waters backtracks on previously calling Vladimir Putin a "gangster," saying, "I may have changed my mind a little bit in the last year...is Putin a bigger gangster than Joe Biden and all those in charge of American politics since World War II? I am not so sure. Putin didn’t invade Vietnam or Iraq? Did he?...Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I am now more open to listen to what Putin actually says."

Elsewhere, Waters solidifies his boycott against Israel declaring that “the Israelis are committing genocide.”

“In my opinion, Israel has a right to exist as long as it is a true democracy, as long as no group, religious or ethnic, enjoys more human rights than any other,” he added later. “But unfortunately that is exactly what is happening in Israel and Palestine. The government says that only Jewish people should enjoy certain rights. So it can’t be described as democratic.”