Roger Waters is taking legal action after the German government canceled one of his shows in Frankfurt, citing anti-Semitism as its reason for pulling the plug. His management company, Mark Fenwick Management, shared a statement about the "unjustifiable decision."
“Mr Waters has instructed his lawyers to immediately take all necessary steps to overturn this unjustifiable decision,” the statement reads. “[This is] to ensure that his fundamental human right of freedom of speech is protected and that all of those who wish to see him perform, are free to do so in Frankfurt, Munich and in any other city in any other country.”
“These actions are unconstitutional, without justification, and based upon the false accusation that Roger Waters is antisemitic, which he is not,” it continued, adding that this attempt to “silence him” could potentially lead to “serious, far-reaching consequences.”
The City of Frankfurt explained its reasoning for the cancellation in a statement last month. “The background to the cancellation is the persistent anti-Israel behavior of the former Pink Floyd frontman, who is considered one of the most widely spread antisemites in the world,” it said, translated by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “He repeatedly called for a cultural boycott of Israel and drew comparisons to the apartheid regime in South Africa and put pressure on artists to cancel events in Israel.”
The news comes after Waters' former Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour cosigned his wife Polly Samson's claims of the singer-songwriter being antisemitic, among other things.
“Sadly @rogerwaters you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” she tweeted earlier this month. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching,misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”
Gilmour then quoted her tweet with his approval, writing: “Every word demonstrably true.”