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Waters said depictions of an “unhinged fascist demagogue” have been featured at Pink Floyd concerts since the 1980s.
Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters has said he opposes “fascism” in all its forms following the outrage in Germany, where the rock star donned a Nazi-style uniform at a concert in Berlin and sparked a police investigation.
Berlin police said on Friday they were investigating Waters after images of the Pink Floyd co-founder circulated on social media, showing him on stage last week at the Mercedes-Benz Arena wearing a long black coat with red armbands and shooting a World War imitation. Submachine gun II.
Police are investigating “suspicion of incitement to public hatred because the clothing worn on stage could be used to glorify or justify the Nazi regime,” a police spokesman told the French news agency AFP.
When the police investigation is complete, the case will be handed over to Berlin prosecutors, police said.
Felix Klein, the German government’s commissioner for combating anti-Semitism, called for Waters to be held accountable. Klein said authorities should be “vigilant” following the incident and that music venues should reconsider their relationship with the musician, according to a report by Germany’s Funke media group.
“Concert organizers should consider whether they want to offer a platform to conspiracy theorists,” Klein reportedly said.
In a statement posted to his Twitter account on Saturday, Waters said his concert in Berlin had “attracted bad faith attacks from those who want to slander and silence me because they disagree with my political views.”
Waters said that attempts to portray his performance as anything but anti-fascist were “disingenuous and politically motivated”.
“The elements of my performance that have been called into question are clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice and intolerance in all its forms,” he said.
—Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) May 26, 2023
“The portrayal of a deranged fascist demagogue has been a feature of my shows since Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ in 1980,” he said.
“I have spent my entire life speaking out against authoritarianism and oppression where I established it… My parents fought the Nazis in World War II, and my father paid the ultimate price,” he said.
“Regardless of the consequences of the attacks against me, I will continue to condemn injustice and all those who perpetrate it.”
Water is a well-known pro-Palestinian activist who has been accused of holding anti-Jewish views. He has floated an inflatable pig adorned with the Star of David at his concerts. The singer denies the accusations of anti-Semitism and says 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 he has been highly controversial with some city officials who have even tried, unsuccessfully, to ban him from performing.
At the same Berlin concert, Waters also displayed the names of several deceased people on a big screen, including that of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who died in a Nazi concentration camp.
Also named was Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank last year.
Abu Akleh’s family has filed an official complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to demand justice for his death.
Waters is due to play his last concert in Germany in the western city of Frankfurt on Sunday night and protesters plan to demonstrate outside the venue.
Frankfurt city authorities tried to stop the concert, but a court ruled against them, citing artistic freedom.
