Pink Floyd concerts have been depicting “a deranged fascist demagogue” since 1980, Waters said.
Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters says he opposes all forms of “fascism” after the rock star sparked controversy after wearing a Nazi uniform at a Berlin concert The unrest in Germany sparked a police investigation.
Police in Berlin said on Friday they were investigating Waters after pictures of the Pink Floyd co-founder circulated on social media showing his death at the Mercedes-Benz Arena last week. Wears a long black coat with red armbands on stage and fires a mimic World War II submachine gun.
A police spokesman told AFP that police were investigating “alleged incitement to public hatred because clothes worn on stage could be used to glorify or justify Nazi rule”.
The case will be handed over to Berlin prosecutors after the police investigation is concluded, the police said.
Felix Klein, the German government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, called for Waters to be held accountable. According to Germany’s Funke media group, Klein said authorities needed to remain “vigilant” after the incident and that music venues should reconsider their relationship with musicians.
“Concert organizers should consider whether they want to provide a platform for conspiracy theorists,” Klein reportedly said.
In a statement on his Twitter account on Saturday, Waters said his Berlin concert “had attracted vicious attacks from people who wanted to discredit me and silence me because they disagreed with my political views”.
Waters said it was “hypocritical and politically motivated” to try to paint his performance as anything other than anti-fascist.
“The element of my performance that was questioned was clearly a statement against fascism, injustice and bigotry in all its forms,” he said.
— Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) May 26, 2023
“The depiction of a deranged fascist firebrand has been a feature of my show since Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ in 1980,” he said.
“I’ve spoken out against authoritarianism and oppression my whole life … my parents fought the Nazis in World War II and my father paid the ultimate price,” he said.
“Regardless of the consequences of the attack on me, I will continue to condemn the injustice and all those who perpetrate it.”
Voight, a prominent pro-Palestinian activist, has been accused of holding anti-Semitic views. At one of his concerts, he once floated an inflatable pig decorated with a Star of David. The singer denied the anti-Semitism accusation, saying he was protesting Israeli policies, not Jews.
Waters has played in several German cities in recent weeks as part of his “This Is Not a Drill” tour. But it caused huge controversy with some city officials, who even tried unsuccessfully to ban him from performing.
At the same Berlin concert, Waters also flashed the names of several dead on the big screen, including Jewish teenager Anne Frank who died in a Nazi concentration camp.
Also named is Shireen Abu Akleh, the slain Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist who was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank last year.
Abu Akleh’s family has filed a formal complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC), seeking justice for her death.
Protesters are planning to demonstrate outside Waters’ final German concert in the western city of Frankfurt on Sunday night.
The Frankfurt city authorities tried to stop the concert, but a court ruled against it on the grounds of artistic freedom.
