Frankfurt has refused to let Roger Waters, the bassist for Pink Floyd and a strong advocate of the boycott of Israel, play after that, referring to him as “one of the world’s most well-known antisemites.”
Waters was supposed to perform on May 28 at Frankfurt’s Festhalle, where 3,000 Jews were killed during the Holocaust by being deported shortly after Kristallnacht.
In announcing that the concert by Roger Waters would not take place, the city of Frankfurt cited the concert hall’s historical importance. It referred to Waters’ protracted anti-Israel agitation.
The former Pink Floyd frontman, regarded as one of the most widely disseminated antisemites in the world, has a history of anti-Israel activity, according to the city.
“He consistently called for a cultural boycott of Israel, compared it to the South African apartheid system, and pressured artists to postpone performances in Israel.”
Waters’ full-throated anti-Israel advocacy has regularly been accused of crossing into antisemitism. In addition to supporting the BDS movement, Roger Waters has flown a pig-shaped balloon with a Star of David at his concerts, discussed the alleged influence of a pernicious Jewish lobby in the United States, and made comparisons between Israeli actions in the West Bank and those of Nazi Germany and South Africa during the apartheid era.
Waters tweeted, “Hope I was a Labour party member so I could be removed in sympathy,” in response to the expulsion of a British politician from the party following an antisemitic issue.
The news of the canceled event received enthusiastic feedback from Jewish organizations in Germany. Josef Schuster, leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, declared that antisemitism in the arts and culture “must not be accepted.” “I support this choice.”
Several additional dates are scheduled for Waters’ European tour, including several in Germany.
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