Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters accused of antisemitic behavior including swastika confetti, ‘Jew food’ remarks: report
Pink Floyd co-founder and former frontman Roger Waters has been accused of sending an antisemitic email to his staffers proposing to write “Dirty k–e” on the inflatable pig habitually floated above his gigs.
London-based organization Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has released disturbing emails and interviews in a documentary titled “The Dark Side of Roger Waters,” which uncovers a series of allegations of antisemitic behavior against the rocker.
In one email, the “Comfortably Numb” musician, 80, allegedly suggested “bombing” audiences with confetti in the shape of swastikas, Stars of David, and dollar signs.
“Hey Guys, Who’s going to make pig? Would it work to go out on the stuka truss? I imagine it black with crossed hammers logo as 1980, but covered with symbols from Good by blue sky,’crosses, stars of david( that’s king david not david gilmour) crescent and star, dollar signs, shell oil shell, etc and epithets,’my pig right or wrong’ ‘f–k you’ ‘no,f–k you’ ‘dirty k–e’ ‘follow the money’ ‘Scum?’ etc. Roger,” one alleged email, dated March 25, 2010, read.
Waters, who was recently banned from speaking on the University of Pennsylvania campus amid allegations of antisemitism for his wearing a Nazi-inspired uniform and displaying Nazi imagery at a Berlin concert, was also accused of making a slew of antisemitic comments to his former collaborators, Norbert Statchel and Bob Ezrin.
Statchel, Waters’ former saxophonist, alleged that the musician lost his temper over vegetarian food at a restaurant and demanded that waiters “Take away the Jew food.”
Recalling the pair’s meal at a Lebanese restaurant years ago, Statchel alleged, “Finally the twelfth or thirteenth dish came out. The waiter seemed intimidated already by the attitude and personalities and the loudness and the kind arrogance and finally, this dish comes.”
“Roger kinda pushes it with his arm and he goes, ‘That’s it! That’s it! Where’s the meat? Where’s the meat? What’s with this? This is Jew food! What’s with the Jew food? Take away the Jew food!’ and I’m just sitting there: ‘Oh boy,’ you know, tongue-tied again and kind of in a panic.”
He also claimed that Waters mocked his grandmother who was murdered in the Holocaust, and that a colleague warned him not to react if he wanted to keep his job.
Meanwhile, Ezrin, who produced Pink Floyd’s 11th studio album, 1979’s “The Wall,” recalled Waters singing him an impromptu ditty about then-agent Bryan Morrison.
“I can’t remember the exact circumstance, but something like, you know … the last line of the couplet was ‘cos Morry is a f–king Jew,'” Ezrin said. “It was my first inclination that there may be some antisemitism under the surface.”
The Post has reached out to reps for Waters for comment.
“Roger Waters has repeatedly used his enormous platform to bait Jews, but he always claims that he is not antisemitic,” Gideon Falter, chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said in a statement.
“We believed that there was further evidence out there to the contrary, and the release of ‘The Dark Side of Roger Waters’ now puts the evidence we obtained in the hands of the public.”
“It is hard to imagine a rockstar emblazoning the N-word above their concerts, but Mr. Waters demanded that his crew do exactly that with the K-word. Not only that, but he seems to have spent time humiliating and harassing his Jewish staff,” Falter added.
“One cannot help but watch this film and wonder what kind of person uses their power to this effect. Is Roger Waters an antisemite? Now people can make up their own minds.”
In May, the singer came under fire after donning a long black coat, black gloves, and black sunglasses — complete with a red armband — during a concert in Berlin.
The outfit resembled that of an SS officer.
Following outrage online, the US State Department subsequently said in a statement that Waters has “a long track record of using antisemitic tropes” and that his Berlin concert “contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust.”
Waters, however, defended his costume choice, saying it was a clear stance “in opposition to fascism, injustice, bigotry in all its forms.”
“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,” he said in a statement on May 26.
“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.”
“Regardless of the consequences of the attacks against me, I will continue to condemn injustice and all those who perpetuate it,” he added, in part.
