In a new interview with The Empire Files podcast, Roger Waters took a shot at Radiohead’s Thom Yorke for his stance on the Israel-Palestine issue.
Waters criticized Radiohead for playing in Tel Aviv in 2017. He signed a letter urging them not to perform and later exchanged emails with Yorke. The rocker renewed his criticism of the band, saying, “I wrote [Yorke] a sort of email that went, ‘I’m sorry if you thought I was being confrontational.'”
The former Pink Floyd bassist continued, “He wrote back and he said, ‘Normally, people on one side of an argument at least have the decency or the grace or the something to have a conversation.'”
“So then I wrote him back, and I said, ‘Thom, the people in BDS have been trying to have a conversation with you for months! And so have I!'” Roger shared his response to the Radiohead singer.
When asked how the conversation ended, Waters said, “That the guy’s a complete prick!” The interview also covered recent events, including when Yorke clashed with a pro-Palestinian protester and left the stage at a Melbourne show in October.
Waters noted, “I think he’s damaged. He’s very damaged. He’s obviously very, very deeply insecure. He obviously thinks he’s very bright but he’s not. So he can’t actually have a conversation.”
“My answer to people who say we should go there and sit around the campfire and sing songs: No, we shouldn’t. We should observe the picket line,” Roger said of Radiohead in 2017. “Anybody who’s tempted to do that, like our friends in Radiohead, if only they would actually educate themselves. I know Thom Yorke’s been whining about how he feels insulted, people are suggesting he doesn’t know what’s going on.”
The bassist added at the time, “Well Thom, you shouldn’t feel insulted because if you did know what’s going on, you would have a conversation with Ken Loach, who’s been begging you to have a conversation, or with me, I begged you, Thom.”
“I sent you a number of emails, begging you to have a conversation. As did Brian Eno – you ignored us all, you won’t speak to anyone about anything. So it’s that kind of isolationism that is extremely unhelpful to everybody,” he revealed.
Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead also performed in Tel Aviv with Dudu Tassa and said stopping suffering is more important than art. He also argued against silencing Israeli artists. Waters disagreed, calling it ‘bullsh*t’ and saying the situation is not a conflict but a genocide, with Palestinians as the oppressed.
