Former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, currently touring the world with his show The Wall, based on Pink Floyd’s concept album of the same name, has been accused of anti-Semitism. The allegations by the Anti-Defamation League concern imagery used in The Wall, in particular the song ‘Goodbye Blue Sky’ in which animated backdrops show airplanes dropping bombs in the shape of a star of David, followed by dollar signs, along with other corporate and religious symbols. In a statement, Anti-Defamation League director says “It is outrageous that Roger Waters has chosen to use the juxtaposition of a Jewish Star of David with the symbol of dollar signs. 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.”
The statement continues: “Of course Waters has every right to express his political views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through his music and stagecraft. However, the images he has chosen, when put together in the same sequence, cross a line into anti-Semitism.” Check out footage of the show in Toronto here
