German label terminates contract with Roger Waters after his scandalous statements about Ukraine and Israel
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German music rights company BMG breaks the agreement with the British musician and composer, co-founder of the legendary band Pink Floyd Roger Waters because of his scandalous statements about Israel, Ukraine and the USA.
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This was reported by Variety.
BMG signed a deal with the musician in 2016 and planned to release a new version of Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon. However, the new CEO Thomas Koesfeld, who took office on July 1, 2023, canceled the reissue of the record. The re-recording was eventually released by UK label Cooking Vinyl.
Now it is reported that the German music company is preparing to completely terminate all arrangements with the rock veteran. This decision is associated with controversial and scandalous statements of Waters on the subject of international politics: regarding the war in Ukraine, events in Israel and Palestine, etc.
| No mention that Russia should stop. Screenshot from Twitter |
In February 2023, the co-founder of Pink Floyd spoke before the UN Security Council via video link at the invitation of Russia. Then he declared that the invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine in 2022 “was not unprovoked“, and also condemned some “provocateurs“.
At that time, the mass media expressed the version that the aggressor country invited the Briton to speak at the UN because he had a negative attitude to the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Moreover, in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung, he actually repeated the messages of Russian propaganda – he stated that Vladimir Putin offered the West to build a common security system, but he was refused.
“How sad it is for his former fans to see him act as another brick in the wall of Russian disinformation and propaganda“, the ambassador of Ukraine commented on Waters’ speech at the UN Serhiy Kyslytsia.
In the spring of 2023, the musician faced a number of scandals in Germany. Here they tried to cancel his concert in Frankfurt and Munich because of Waters’ anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish remarks. Opponents of the rock musician’s performances in Germany called him “one of the most famous anti-Semites in the world“.
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| Concert in Munich, May 2023. Photo: Mark Wieland / Redferns |
Minister of Culture and Mass Media of Germany Claudia Roth then stated that she could not ban Waters’ concerts, but advised the organizers to refrain from holding them: “And if they still happen, then let him speak in front of empty halls“.
Even former bandmates criticized Waters for his comments. However, he continued to voice his scandalous statements during his concert tours.
So, at a concert in Birmingham last year, Waters gave a 10-minute speech in which he condemned the “brutal” treatment he received in Germany. He also stated that the media is trying to destroy him for supporting human rights in Palestine: “They are trying to cancel me like they canceled Jeremy Corbyn and Julian Assange“.
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| A protest before a Waters concert in London in June 2023. Photo: Jim Dyson/Getty Images |
Read also: In Berlin, the law on censorship of artists who support Palestine was repealed
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