Pink Floyd: Roger Waters’ Poland exhibits cancelled after controversial Ukraine letter
USA Prime Time
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Brirtish rock legend and Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters’ deliberate concert events in Poland in April have been canceled amid a backlash to the musician’s stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Live Nation Poland, the live performance’s promoter, confirmed the cancellation Saturday however didn’t specify a motive.
The cancellation comes after Waters, 79, revealed a controversial open letter on his website in early September to Ukrainian first girl Olena Zelenska. In the letter, Waters wrote that he opposed the West sending weapons to Ukraine to help the embattled nation in its warfare towards invading Russia.
Waters additionally accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of doubling again on his 2019 election marketing campaign guarantees and mentioned, with out providing proof, that “the forces of maximum nationalism that had lurked, malevolent, within the shadows, have, since then, dominated the Ukraine.”
Waters went on to accuse these “excessive nationalists” of setting Ukraine on a path to warfare with Russia by crossing a “variety of crimson traces” set out by the Kremlin.
Pink Floyd co-founder explains which means behind warning on the prime of his present
On Sunday, Waters denied he had canceled the exhibits himself. The exhibits have been deliberate to happen in Krakow as a part of the his worldwide tour.
In a Facebook statement addressed to the UK’s The Guardian and Poland’s Gazeta Krakowska newspapers, Waters denied he or his administration had canceled the Poland exhibits. He pointed the blame as an alternative to Lukasz Wantuch, a Krakow metropolis councilor who wrote his personal Facebook submit on September 10 opposing Waters’ exhibits.
“It is true {that a} city councilor in Krakow, a Mr Łukasz Wantuch has threatened to carry a gathering asking the council to declare me ‘Persona non grata’ due to my public efforts to encourage all concerned within the disastrous warfare in Ukraine, particularly the governments of the USA and Russia, to work in direction of a negotiated peace, relatively than escalate issues in direction of a bitter finish that may very well be nuclear warfare and the top of all life on this planet,” Waters wrote on Facebook.
“Not withstanding that this chap Łukasz Wantuch appears to know nothing of my historical past of working, all my life, at some private value, within the service of human rights, he, in an article in a neighborhood newspaper urged the nice individuals of Krakow to not purchase tickets to my present,” Waters added.
He went on to say that if Wantuch “achieves his intention… it is going to be a tragic loss for me” in addition to for Krakow residents.
“His draconian censoring of my work will deny them the chance to make up their very own minds,” Waters concluded.
Wantuch’s submit expressed his opposition to Waters’ present, calling the musician “an open supporter of Putin” and his deliberate performances in Krakow “a disgrace for our metropolis.”
“Roger Waters, an open supporter of Putin, desires to play at Tauron Arena in Krakow,” Wantuch wrote. “On Wednesday we’ve got a session of Cracow City Council and I shall be talking to the President and councilors to dam this. Such an occasion could be a disgrace for our metropolis. Let him sing in Moscow.”
Wantuch responded to Waters’ assertion on Sunday by writing that he was nonetheless in Ukraine however would “have a suggestion” for Waters within the night.
Earlier this 12 months, Pink Floyd launched their first new music in 28 years, a single referred to as “Hey Hey Rise Up” to boost funds for humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Waters, who departed the band in 1984, didn’t contribute to track.
Close to six,000 civilians have been confirmed killed in Ukraine for the reason that invasion from Russia started, says the United Nations.