The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has launched a campaign to persuade the London Palladium to drop two Roger Waters concerts.
Waters is due to perform on October 8 and 9 at the venue. In an attempt to highlight the former Pink Floyd frontman’s alleged antisemitic remarks, the CAA drove around London, including past the Palladium, with digital billboards.
The billboards featured recent headlines from national newspapers that covered the CAA’s investigation about Waters allegedly making repeated derogatory references about Jews.
The documentary, The Dark Side of Roger Waters, claimed Waters called his agent a “f****** Jew”. The film also claims Waters once referred disparagingly to a vegetarian restaurant meal as “Jew food”.
It further alleges that he said European Jews could not trace their origins to ancient Israel, but were “just white men like me with beards”.
ROGER WATERS HIGH RES 2F03HT4 (1) (Read-Only)
Roger Waters in Berlin (Alamy)
The CAA also published emails from Waters where he proposed that an inflatable pig floating above his concerts should be scrawled with an antisemitic slogan.
In addition to the billboard campaign, the CAA has launched a petition urging the London Palladium, which is owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber, to cancel his October shows.
The petition, which has garnered almost 5,000 signatures, reads: “Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician, has a long history of baiting Jews. It’s time he faces consequences.
“Mr Waters is due to perform at the London Palladium in the United Kingdom on 8th and 9th October before moving on to tour South America. He regularly embarks on major tours across the United States and Europe.
So, we decided to take Roger Waters on tour. pic.twitter.com/SaUe7o2mh8
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) October 4, 2023
“Venues must not host his hate. The London Palladium is owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber's LW Theatres and the performances are arranged by Live Nation, whose CEO and President is Michael Rapino.
“Lord Lloyd Webber, Mr Rapino, these performances must not go ahead.”
At a previous performance in Berlin earlier this year, Waters appeared on stage wearing an outfit that closely resembled a Nazi uniform.
The musician responded to criticism of this performance, saying that it was “quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice and bigotry in all its forms”. Waters has also denied accusations of being antisemitic.
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Roger Waters performs in New York City (Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Waters did not provide a response to the allegations in time for the publication of the CAA documentary but instead posted a reply on the first day of Succot.
Waters wrote in his response: “Campaign Against Antisemitism gave me seven days to respond to multiple questions about matters dating back to 2002 and 2010.
"I am active in the non-violent protest movement against the Israeli government’s illegal occupation of Palestine and its egregious treatment of Palestinians. Those who wish to conflate that position with antisemitism do a great disservice to us all.”
Waters went on to accuse the CAA of “waging partisan political campaigns against critics of the state of Israel”.
However, he did not deny or confirm many of the key allegations in the documentary, saying: “Truth is, I’m frequently mouthy and prone to irreverence, I can’t recall what I said 13 or more years ago.”
LW Theatres has been approached for comment by the JC.
