Roger Waters Calls Pink Floyd Lyricist Polly Samson’s ‘Putin Apologist,’ Antisemitism Claims ‘Wildly Inaccurate’
The decades-long bitter feud between former Pink Floyd bandmates Roger Waters and David Gilmour was re-ignited this week after guitarist/singer Gilmour’s wife, songwriter Polly Samson, issued a scathing rebuke of the former Floyd bassist/lyricist/singer in a tweet accusing him of antisemitism and misogyny, among other accusations.
Rogers was quick to respond, tweeting on Monday afternoon (Feb. 6) that, “Roger Waters is aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments made about him on Twitter which he refutes entirely. He is currently taking advice on his position.”
Waters’ response came after Samson — a novelist who helped to pen a number of songs on 1994’s The Division Bell and contributed to 2014’s The Endless River Pink Floyd albums following Waters’ split with the band in 1985 — posted her tweet about Waters earlier in the day.
“Sadly @rogerwaters you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” Samson tweeted. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.” Gilmour liked the post and then added, “Every word demonstrably true.”
At press time a spokesperson for Waters and Gilmour had not returned a request for comment on the back-and-forth.
Samson appeared to be responding to an interview Waters did with Germany’s Berliner Zeigtung in which — based on a translation from Waters’ site — he said his view of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had changed over the past year in the midst of Russia’s ongoing, unprovoked war on Ukraine. “The most important reason for supplying arms to Ukraine is surely profit for the arms industry. And I wonder: is Putin a bigger gangster than Joe Biden and all those in charge of American politics since World War II? I am not so sure. Putin didn’t invade Vietnam or Iraq? Did he?,” Waters said in the interview, repeating previous statements he’s made, while adding that he’s “more open” now to listening to what Putin has to say.
“He launched it on the basis of reasons that if I have understood them well are: 1. We want to stop the potential genocide of the Russian-speaking population of the Donbas. 2. We want to fight Nazism in Ukraine,” Rogers said of Putin’ purported reasoning behind the year-long war that has killed tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers; there is a near unanimous consensus that Putin’s claims of rooting out Nazis in Ukraine is a false narrative.
When the reporter noted that Waters irritates people by making it sound like he is defending Putin, the singer made no apologies. “Compared to Biden, I am,” he said, adding that he thinks boycotting Russia would be “counterproductive” and that the cancellation last year of his planned concerts in Poland over his controversial statements were an example of “Russophobia.”
The interview also found Waters doubling-down on his longstanding view that the Israeli government is committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people, and included him once again comparing the state of Israel to Nazi Germany and questioning Israel’s right to exist.
Ever since Waters left Floyd in 1985 he has been involved in an ongoing legal dispute with Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason about the use of the band’s name, failing in his bid to block the Gilmour-fronted version of the band from releasing albums and touring in the 1990s.
See the tweets below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
