Roger Waters

• Originally featured: August 18, 2019 — Updated: May 27, 2023

Roger Waters, co-founder of the band Pink Floyd, has a long, documented record of antisemitism — and has grossly doubled down since his original "Antisemite of the Week" feature in 2019. The pattern includes his support for the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, his claims of Jewish power and control, his minimization of the Holocaust, and his use of overtly antisemitic imagery in his live shows.

2023 update

Despite public outcry and petitions, Germany allowed Waters' concert to proceed in May 2023. In true Waters fashion, his performance had multiple antisemitic themes: at one point, he donned an outfit similar to an SS German officer and fired a fake automatic rifle.

To add further insult to injury, Waters presented the names of Anne Frank and Shireen Abu Akleh side by side, drawing a parallel between the teenage Holocaust victim and the Palestinian journalist who was accidentally killed while covering the Israel–Palestinian conflict.

Waters, an adamant supporter of BDS, also calls for the isolation and cultural boycott of the Jewish nation. He falsely compares the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians to apartheid South Africa and shockingly compares Israel to Nazi Germany. Some of his statements and actions have been paraded at his largely attended concerts. For example, in 2013, he used a large inflatable pig with a Star of David to signify Jewish greed and control, causing significant controversy as it invoked dangerous antisemitic stereotypes.

Not surprisingly, Roger Waters also associates with — and defends — prominent antisemites such as Linda Sarsour. After StopAntisemitism's successful 2022 campaign in which Geico cut ties with Linda Sarsour, Waters went on a rant that Geico had caved to the "Zionists" and that some "Zionist person" was behind the firing.

A few months later, Waters went on the podcast of former Antisemite of the Week Joe Rogan, where the two discussed what they considered to be antisemitic. Waters defended Hamas and claimed Israel was responsible for the Palestinians' ongoing intifadas because the Israelis will eventually "slaughter the Palestinians."

In a May 2023 interview with Ha'aretz, Waters blamed the "Jewish lobby" for perpetuating the "false" notion that he was antisemitic. During the same interview, he called for an end to the Jewish state.

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, boycotting Israeli goods, and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis are all deemed antisemitic by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

Berlin authorities announced they were launching a criminal investigation into the actions that took place at Roger Waters' concert mentioned above.

Original 2019 feature

Roger Waters, the co-founder and lead singer of the rock band Pink Floyd, is well-known for his hatred toward the Jewish state. He works fervently to demonize Israel and Israelis by spreading lies and false accusations and using antisemitic tropes.

In 2011, Waters officially joined the antisemitic BDS movement and began his witch hunt by falsely accusing the State of Israel of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians while encouraging artists to boycott Israel. Since then, Waters has constantly attacked Israel, using his rock-star status to influence fans and other artists.

Although Waters claims he is not an antisemite, his rhetoric and the imagery and props he often uses in his concerts tell a different story. In 2013, Waters openly expressed his antisemitic views toward Judaism in an interview: "They [the Jews] believe some very weird stuff you know, they believe that everybody that is not a Jew is only on earth to serve them and they believe that the Indigenous people of the region that they kicked off the land in 1948 and have continued to kick off the land ever since are sub-human. The parallels with what went on in the 30's in Germany are so crushingly obvious…" In the same interview, Waters accused the "extraordinarily powerful" American "Jewish lobby" in the music industry of silencing critics of Israel.

Also in 2013, Waters started using a giant inflatable pig emblazoned with a Jewish Star of David and dollar signs in his concerts. In 2015, Waters published an open letter criticizing the band Bon Jovi for performing in Tel Aviv. In 2016, Waters narrated a documentary titled "The Occupation of the American Mind," in which Israel is falsely accused of war crimes and genocide.

In a July 2017 online interview with BDS movement founder Omar Barghouti, Waters made a number of anti-Israel and pro-BDS statements, including: "I'm not sure that there are many much harsher regimes around the world than this [Israel], actually, if you look at it." Waters has also been a regular participant in anti-Israel talks and events on college campuses alongside other known antisemites such as Linda Sarsour and Marc Lamont Hill. Earlier in 2019, Waters called on Madonna to boycott Israel when it was announced that she would be making an appearance at Eurovision.

Roger Waters continues to use concert venues and his star power to spread vitriol against the Jewish people.