CNN and Music-News.com are reporting that Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters is under investigation for antisemitism following his May 17th show in Berlin, Germany due to some of the imagery used during the performance.
A police spokesman in Berlin said Waters was being investigated on the "suspicion of incitement to public hatred because the clothing worn on stage could be used to glorify or justify Nazi rule."
The issue stems from a part of the show where Waters appears on stage as the character Pink from Pink Floyd's iconic album, The Wall. During "In The Flesh", he wears a black leather trenchcoat with a red arm band emblazoned with two crossed hammers instead of swastikas. According to the accusations, this is dangerously close to promoting Naziism.
Waters issued the following statement via social media on May 26th:
"My recent performance in Berlin has attracted bad faith attacks from those who want to smear and silence me because they disagree with my political views and moral principles.
The elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms. Attempts to portray those elements as something else are disingenuous and politically motivated. The depiction of an unhinged fascist demagogue has been a feature of my shows since Pink Floyd's The Wall in 1980.
I have spent my entire life speaking out against authoritarianism and oppression wherever I see it. When I was a child after the war, the name of Anne Frank was often spoken in our house, she became a permanent reminder of what happens when fascism is left unchecked. My parents fought the Nazis in World War II, with my father paying the ultimate price.
Regardless of the consequences of the attacks against me, I will continue to condemn injustice and all those who perpetrate it."
Read more via CCN here, and via Music-News.com here.
The performance of "In The Flesh" that has been called into question can be viewed below.
It was recently announced that Pink Floyd legend, Roger Waters, said he will play in Frankfurt, Germany 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”.
It turns out that Waters will now be allowed to play the concert. According to German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, an administrative court in Frankfurt on Monday found that neither the city nor the state of Hesse had the right to cancel a Roger Waters concert at the Frankfurt Festhalle as it had previously sought to do.
The court said that as the owners of concert organizer Messe Frankfurt, the state and city were obliged "to make it possible for Waters to stage the concert" as contractually agreed, despite concerns over the British musician's supposed antisemitic leanings.
Waters has run into similar trouble in other German cities due to his statements and past stage shows.
The court said that although Waters' show obviously borrows symbolism linked to National Socialism, it could not see that he was glorifying or qualifying Nazi deeds or identifying with Nazi racial ideology. Nor was there any indication that he would be using any type of Nazi propaganda during the concert.
The court said that to deny Waters access to the site would be to infringe upon his free speech rights as an artist.
Read more at Deutsche Welle.
