The German city of Frankfurt has canceled an upcoming Roger Waters concert on May 28, citing “persistent anti-Israel behavior” from “one of the most widely spread anti-Semites in the world.” This comes directly from the Frankfurt Official City Portal, which also writes: “The magistrate therefore feels called upon to set a clear signal against anti-Semitism that is supported by society as a whole. Against this background, the individual case decision made due to the special scope is not to be seen as a precedent.”
Last fall, the city of Kraków in Poland also canceled a pair of Waters concerts set to take place this year amid outrage over comments the former Pink Floyd frontman made about the Russian war against Ukraine. Around the same time last year, Waters posted a much-contested open letter to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska on his website in which he said the “extreme nationalists” in Ukraine “set your country on the path to this disastrous war.”
More recently, this month Waters spoke at the UN Security Council at Moscow’s request, where he condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying that it was “not unprovoked” but it was also “illegal.” He also called on “President Biden, President Putin, President Zelenskyy, USA, NATO, Russia, the EU, all of you” to “agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine today.” He also conjured the image of an international celebration and “John Lennon pumping the air with his fist from the grave” if that ceasefire were to happen.
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