“offensive to Jewish people” and “minimizing the Holocaust”

After his concert in Berlin on May 17, 2023, the police investigated Roger Waters. The reason at the time was the suspicion of hate speech, which had arisen, among other things, because of Waters’ fascist costume, which he had been presenting on stage for some time. According to media reports, the US State Department has now gotten involved in the affair.

A written statement said Waters had “a long history of using anti-Semitic imagery.” The Berlin concert was “insulting towards Jewish people” and “minimized the Holocaust”. The ministry responded in writing to a question at a press conference as to whether the ministry shared the same opinion as anti-Semitism commissioner Deborah Lipstadt. The latter had published a tweet in which she strongly condemned Roger Waters’ behavior.

Roger Waters continues to defend himself. On June 6, he was a guest on Double Down News, where he gave a 20-minute interview. He reiterated that the affected elements of his show were not new. He has also spoken out against authoritarianism for a long time.

For his concert in Frankfurt, Waters refrained from putting on the uniform. The reason for this is the history of the Festhalle in Frankfurt, because 3,000 Jewish men were rounded up here in 1938, abused and then deported.