Roger Waters is currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of Pink Floyd's The Wall with a lengthy North American tour. But he's now been hit with a setback in the form of accusations of anti-Semitism.
The allegations come from the Anti-Defamation League, whose director Abraham Foxman took exception to Waters's new stage show. During the performance of "Goodbye Blue Sky," an image projected above the stage shows airplanes dropping bombs in the shape of dollar signs, Shell logos and Mercedes Benz logos alongside various religious symbols - crosses, Muslim crescents and the Star of David.
According to Foxman, the inclusion of dollar signs and the Star of David back to back plays into racist Jewish stereotypes. In a statement, Foxman wrote, "While he insists that his intent was to criticize Israel's West Bank security fence, the use of such imagery in a concert setting seems to leave the message open to interpretation, and the meaning could easily be misunderstood as a comment about Jews and money."
He continued, "We wish Waters had chosen some other way to convey his political views without playing into and dredging up the worst age-old anti-Semitic stereotype about Jews and their supposed obsession with making money."
Waters has not personally responded to the claims, although his wife Laurie Durning told the New York Post, "Since this tour started on September 15, we've had dozens and dozens of reviews and over 120,000 audience members and I've never heard anyone interpret the show in the way this guy Abraham Foxman has - and of course it's most definitely because he hasn't actually seen it."
She added, "This show is unapologetically anti-war, and we would really like to put a quick end to any possible rumours of it being in any way negative towards any group of people. It absolutely does not call up any 'anti-Semitic stereotypes."
You can judge for yourself by clicking on the video below.
The allegations come from the Anti-Defamation League, whose director Abraham Foxman took exception to Waters's new stage show. During the performance of "Goodbye Blue Sky," an image projected above the stage shows airplanes dropping bombs in the shape of dollar signs, Shell logos and Mercedes Benz logos alongside various religious symbols - crosses, Muslim crescents and the Star of David.
According to Foxman, the inclusion of dollar signs and the Star of David back to back plays into racist Jewish stereotypes. In a statement, Foxman wrote, "While he insists that his intent was to criticize Israel's West Bank security fence, the use of such imagery in a concert setting seems to leave the message open to interpretation, and the meaning could easily be misunderstood as a comment about Jews and money."
He continued, "We wish Waters had chosen some other way to convey his political views without playing into and dredging up the worst age-old anti-Semitic stereotype about Jews and their supposed obsession with making money."
Waters has not personally responded to the claims, although his wife Laurie Durning told the New York Post, "Since this tour started on September 15, we've had dozens and dozens of reviews and over 120,000 audience members and I've never heard anyone interpret the show in the way this guy Abraham Foxman has - and of course it's most definitely because he hasn't actually seen it."
She added, "This show is unapologetically anti-war, and we would really like to put a quick end to any possible rumours of it being in any way negative towards any group of people. It absolutely does not call up any 'anti-Semitic stereotypes."
You can judge for yourself by clicking on the video below.
