“Deeply offensive to Jews”: US government accuses Roger Waters of using anti-Semitic symbols

After police investigations into hate speech against Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, the US government also accused the rock musician of using anti-Semitic symbols.

“The artist in question has long been known to use anti-Semitic motifs to denigrate Jewish people,” a US State Department spokesman said on Wednesday. The imagery used at concerts in Berlin was “deeply insulting to Jewish people” and downplayed the Holocaust.

The Berlin police had started investigations against Waters on suspicion of incitement to hatred. The background is the musician’s stage clothing during his concerts on May 17th and 18th in the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.

In videos on social media, he was seen wearing a long black coat with epaulettes and a red armband featuring a white circle with a symbol. In Munich, too, Waters was at times on stage in a black leather coat and red armband.

A ministry spokesman was asked in a press briefing on Monday for comment on a tweet by US Envoy for Combating Anti-Semitism, Deborah Lipstadt. This had shared a post by the European Commission’s Anti-Semitism Commissioner, Katharina von Schnurbein, on Twitter and confirmed it.

Roger Waters has been criticized for his closeness to the BDS campaign

Schnurbein accused Waters of trivializing the Shoah and “trampling on the victims who were systematically murdered by the Nazis”.

In the briefing on Monday, the spokesman initially did not comment – with the note that he was not in the picture about the tweet. When asked, the ministry said that Lipstadt’s tweet speaks for itself and supplemented the statements mentioned.

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters (79) has been criticized, among other things, for his proximity to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign, which calls for a boycott of the State of Israel and Israeli products because of the crackdown on Palestinians. At concerts, Waters released pig-shaped balloons with a Star of David.

There are always protests against his concerts, most recently on Pentecost Sunday in Frankfurt/Main. At the concert, he again denied being an anti-Semite. “The elements of my performance that were questioned are clearly a statement against fascism, injustice and bigotry in all their forms,” ​​said a statement released earlier by a Waters attorney. (dpa)