Roger Waters may be under threat of cancelation following a new documentary titled ‘The Dark Side of Roger Waters,’ which uncovers accusations of anti-Semitism directed at the Pink Floyd co-founder.
The 37-minute documentary, created by the London-based charity Campaign Against Antisemitism and hosted by investigative journalist John Ware, premiered on September 27 on the CAA’s social media channels. The movie features allegations against Waters from two well-known music professionals who worked closely with him for years: producer Bob Ezrin and saxophonist Norbert Stachel.
Ezrin claimed the following in the film:
“Something like the last line of the couplet was ’cause Morry is a f*cking Jew’. It was my first inclination that there may be some anti-Semitism under the surface. Now Roger knew that I’m Jewish, so I didn’t know whether this was another one of those sort of button-poking things that he was doing just to see if I would react or whether he just did not even get how offensive that might be to a Jewish person.”
In another account, Stachel, who toured with Waters many years, remembered an incident where the musician allegedly said:
“‘This is Jew food. What’s with the Jew food? Take away the Jew food.’ I’m just sitting there, oh boy, tongue-tied again and kind of in a panic because I don’t know what to do. Am I supposed to leave and then be judged?”
The saxophonist also claimed that Roger made fun of his family, including those who died in the Holocaust, explaining:
“He tried to go into character as a babushka, and he puts on this impression of an old hag. He tries to portray a Polish Jewish peasant woman’s voice, ‘I’ll introduce you to your dead grandmother.'”
According to the documentary creators, there are allegations that Waters suggested incorporating anti-Semitic language into a stage prop for one of his shows. When a lighting director, who happened to be Jewish, objected, Waters supposedly removed one of the offensive terms.
In May, David Draiman took to Twitter, accusing the singer of being an ‘anti-semite’ for appearing onstage in Berlin dressed in an SS officer uniform. Besides him, Polly Samson also made a similar accusation, labeling Waters an anti-semite for his controversial comments.
You can see a clip from the documentary below.
