classic rockroger waterspink floyd
16:30 Monday, 17 April 2023
NME is reporting that Pink Floyd legend, Roger Waters, has said he will play in Frankfurt despite a planned performance there being cancelled over claims of anti-Semitism.
Waters was supposed to play at the publicly owned Festhalle on May 28, but the council called off the performance over the musician’s views on Israel. They later described him as “one of the world’s most widely-known anti-Semites”.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the cancellation notice cited Waters’ boycott of Israel – also known as the BDS campaign – as well as the musician’s talks with Hamas-affiliated media, comparisons of Israel to apartheid South Africa and what many see as anti-Semitic imagery at shows. It also referenced the sensitivity surrounding the venue, which was used as a detention centre for some 3000 Jewish people who were then deported to concentration camps in 1938.
Now, however, Waters has suggested he’s “coming anyway” despite the cancellation. He posted an update to social media alongside a photo of the grave of Sophie Scholl, a German student and anti-Nazi activist who was beheaded via guillotine in 1943 for distributing anti-war leaflets around the University of Munich.
The post also suggested that Waters has filed an injunction against the council but has not had a response. He had previously indicated that he could take legal action against the motion to cancel his performances, which he argued was “unjustifiable” and an attempt to “silence him”.
“Frankfurt Council were legally required to respond to Roger Waters [sic] interim injunction by midnight April 14,” Waters wrote. “Did they? Nobody knows? We can only guess at what’s going on in Frankfurt? Are they playing for time? Who knows?”
He continued: “Not that it matters much! We’re coming anyway! Because human rights matter! Because free speech matters! Yes!
“Frankfurt City Council, we remember Kristallnacht! Like Sophie Scholl our fathers stood with those three thousand Jewish men and today we stand with the Palestinians! We’re coming to Frankfurt on the 28th of May! [sic] Love, R.”
Read more at NME.com.
