Another former Roger Waters associate speaks to CAA, as we prepare for rally outside Palladium concert
Following the release of Campaign Against Antisemitism’s documentary last week showcasing disturbing e-mails and allegations relating to the musician Roger Waters, another former associate, appalled by the testimony in the documentary, has now come forward to cast further light on Mr Waters’ conduct.
The new interview can be viewed at antisemitism.org/rogerwaters.
In this new interview, lighting director Marc Brickman, who has worked with music legends from Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen to Carol King and Duke Ellington, speaks out.
He explains the conversations around the “dirty k*ke” e-mail and how he demanded to know why, if the purpose was to confront hateful phrases, it was only a racist epithet that targets Jews that was due to be included on the pig and no other offensive terms.
He also reveals that the reason that the swastika confetti idea never materialised was only because nobody would make it, and that he was called out by Mr Waters for expressing his reservations.
These incidents and others that he recounts – including the proposed inclusion of an image of “a menacing Hasidic Jewish boy” alongside “an angelic Palestinian girl” – drew Mr Brickman to the conclusion that Mr Waters’ “definition of antisemitism is totally different than anyone else’s”.
Regarding venues, such as the London Palladium, that host Mr Waters, Mr Brickman says: “They don’t care; all they care about is their bottom line.”
Mr Waters’ views on Jews have long been of concern to the Jewish community, with a number of well-documented controversies.
Mr Waters is playing at the London Palladium on Sunday 8th and Monday 9th October.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has orchestrated a number of activities to protest these performances, including delivering thousands of letters from members of the public to the theatre, parking an advertisement outside the theatre to raise awareness of Mr Waters’ record, driving a van around London drawing attention to the controversy, and picketing the venue.
We will be holding a demonstration outside the London palladium at 18:00 on Monday 9th October. Please register attendance at eventbrite.co.uk/e/protest-against-roger-waters-at-the-london-palladium-tickets.
Mr Waters has always insisted that he is not an antisemite, but our investigation has revealed e-mails from Mr Waters in which he proposed writing “Dirty k***” on the inflatable pig habitually floated above his concerts and suggested “bombing” audiences with confetti in the shape of swastikas, Stars of David, dollar signs and other symbols, among other incidents and revelations. The full documentary can be viewed at antisemitism.org/rogerwaters.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s investigation has been led by John Ware, the BBC Panorama veteran and one of the UK’s foremost television investigative journalists, who has worked on exposés whose focus has ranged from IRA terrorism to antisemitism under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party.
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Following the release of The Dark Side of Roger Waters, this latest interview corroborates the account of Waters’s views given by the people who worked with him over many years.
“It took more than a decade for Marc Brickman to speak out, and now that he has, it is hard to look at Waters in the same light. Waters comes across as a cold-hearted bully who picks on Jews. You can’t help but flinch listening to a person as gentle as Brickman recount how he had to stand alone against Waters’ repulsive interventions in the artistry of the show.
“Taking this new interview together with the revelations in last week’s documentary, it is all the more astounding and disturbing that one of London’s most iconic venues will roll out the red carpet to Waters this weekend, having so far stayed resolutely deaf and silent in the face of thousands of letters of complaint. Brickman suggests it’s because the Palladium’s owner only cares about the bottom line, and so far it seems that might be true.”
If you wish to add your name to our petition calling on venues to stop hosting Mr Waters owing to his long history of baiting Jews, or learn about other ways to get involved in this campaign, please visit antisemitism.org/rogerwaters.
