Former Pink Floyd bassist and co-founder Roger Waters is said to have used anti-Semitic language towards the band’s employees in the past. That’s according to a new documentary, “The Dark Side of Roger Waters,” which examines allegations of anti-Semitism that have been made against the musician in recent months.
Bob Ezrin, who worked as a producer on “The Wall,” remembers Waters calling the band’s agent Bryan Morison a “fucking Jew.” “The last line of the couplet was something like ‘because Morry’s a damn Jew.’ That was my first indication that there might be some anti-Semitism hiding beneath the surface,” shares Ezrin. “Since Roger knew I was Jewish, I didn’t know if this was another one of those button-pushing things he was doing just to see how I would react, or if he just didn’t understand how offensive it was could be a Jewish person.”
But other Jewish people also comment in the documentary about alleged incidents of anti-Semitism in their collaboration with the bassist. This also applies to Norbert Schwert, who played saxophone for Waters in the past. According to Pierce, the musician once loudly refused to eat in a Lebanese restaurant, shouting: “This is Jewish food! What’s with this Jew food? Take away this Jew food.”
Sting continues: “I’m just sitting there, oh man, tongue tied again and kind of panicking because I don’t know what to do. Should I leave and then be judged?”
Roger Waters has not yet commented on the allegations against him.
Watch a clip from “The Dark Side of Roger Waters” here:
Waters is also said to have made fun of Schwanz’s family, some of whom lost their lives in the Holocaust. He claims the bassist was trying to imitate a Polish-Jewish farmer’s wife while saying, “I’ll introduce you to your dead grandmother.”
Bob Ezrin continues, sharing his suspicion that Waters would not perceive himself as anti-Semitic. “Do I think he considers himself an anti-Semite? I’ll bet he won’t, and he’ll be the first to say, ‘I’m not against anything, I’m for everyone,'” says Ezrin. “But as a person with a powerful public platform, he has a responsibility to understand that what he does affects other people.”
This opinion is also echoed by Gideon Falter, chairman of the “Campaign Against Anti-Semitism,” which produces the documentary. “He has this platform that allows him to influence tens of thousands of people at his concerts and millions of people on social media, and yet he continues to use it to keep coming back to Jews. “What kind of person does something like that with that kind of reach?” he asks.
In recent months in particular, Roger Waters has often drawn attention for behavior that could be considered anti-Semitic. In Germany, the musician is being investigated on suspicion of sedition after he appeared on stage in May in an outfit that was reminiscent of the uniforms of SS soldiers. Waters denies the allegations.