A new report says that Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters wrote antisemitic emails and mocked his former band member's grandmother who died in the Holocaust, USA Today reports.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism on Wednesday released a 37-minute documentary about its findings related to Waters, sharing emails allegedly written by Waters in which the musician asks a crew if they can write "dirty k---" on the inflatable pig that is a staple of Waters' concerts.
“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," said Gideon Falter, chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, in a statement. "Not only that, but he seems to have spent time humiliating and harassing his Jewish staff. 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.”
The investigation by the organization included a 2010 email from Waters to his crew, asking if the floating pig could be "covered with symbols" such as a "blue sky, crosses, stars of david" and a "crescent and star, dollar signs, shell oil shell, etc" as well as epithets such as "my pig right or wrong," "dirty k---" and "scum."
The report included conversations with Norbert Stachel, Waters’ onetime saxophonist, and Bob Ezrin, who produced "The Wall".
Stachel recalls a tour in Lebanon where, over dinner one night, Waters exclaimed, "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.”
It was Stachel's grandmother who died in the Holocaust Waters allegedly mocked.
Ezrin relates an incident in which he and Waters were discussing agent Bryan Morrison, and Waters then sang a song about him that ended with a couplet insulting Morrison's Jewish heritage.
Earlier this year, Waters caused an uproar when he wore the Nazi-style uniform at a Berlin concert. In that same concert, Waters also compared Anne Frank to Shireen Abu Aqleh, an Al Jazeera journalist who was shot dead while covering clashes between IDF soldiers and Palestinian Arab terrorists in Jenin.
Police in Berlin opened a criminal investigation into suspected incitement by Waters following the May 17 concert at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
The 79-year-old later claimed that aspects of his performance that have been questioned were "quite clearly" a statement against fascism, injustice and bigotry.
The State Department weighed in on the issue, saying that the concert "contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust."
"The artist in question has a long track record of using antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish people," the State Department said in written response to questions.
The State Department comment was in support of its envoy on combating antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt, who condemned the rocker's "despicable Holocaust distortion."
Waters is notorious for his anti-Israel statements and actions. He has in the past compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
He has also called Zionism an “ugly stain” that must be removed. In defense of his actions, Waters argues that BDS “isn’t about music – it’s about human rights.”