Waters’ Berlin performance ‘offensive to Jews’

The US State Division on Tuesday weighed in on an issue over a efficiency by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, denouncing the present in Berlin as “deeply offensive to Jewish folks” and accusing Waters of getting a file of utilizing antisemitic tropes.

Waters, 79, has stated the efficiency final month, throughout which he wore a black trench coat with a swastika-like emblem, was an announcement towards fascism, injustice and bigotry and known as criticism of it “disingenuous and politically motivated.”

Berlin police stated they have been investigating Waters on suspicion of “incitement of the folks.” Critics on-line included US Particular Envoy to Monitor and Fight Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt, who known as the live performance “Holocaust distortion” and amplified a tweet denouncing Waters by the European Fee’s coordinator on combating antisemitism.

In feedback despatched by e mail and never attributed to a named official, the State Division stood by Lipstadt’s remark, and stated Waters’ Berlin live performance “contained imagery that’s deeply offensive to Jewish folks and minimised the Holocaust.”

“The artist in query has an extended observe file of utilizing antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish folks,” the division added.

The division didn’t reply to follow-up questions, together with whether or not officers had seen the live performance and in what kind, and didn’t give examples of Waters’ alleged use of antisemitic tropes.

Photographs from the Could 17 live performance confirmed the famed singer and bass participant aiming an imitation machine gun into the viewers as he recreated scenes from a movie based mostly on Pink Floyd’s hit 1979 album The Wall, a critique of fascism.

Waters stated on Twitter the depiction of “an unhinged fascist demagogue” had been a function of his exhibits since The Wall.

Waters, who helps the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Motion that targets Israel over its occupation of territories the place Palestinians search statehood, is a vociferous critic of US international coverage, and spoke on the UN Safety Council earlier this 12 months at Russia’s invitation.