Disturbed frontman David Draiman has lashed out at Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, describing him as “anti-Semitic to his rotten core”.
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The singer, who is Jewish, shared his opinion of the rock veteran during a new interview with Linda Advocate, in which he looked back at the considerable accusations of anti-Semitism Waters has faced over recent years.
The Pink Floyd icon has made headlines countless times in the past for his often-unfiltered political opinions – namely his criticism of the State of Israel.
One particular example took place back in February, when he criticised Bono, describing him as “disgusting” and “a shit”, following the U2 frontman using his Sphere residency shows to pay respect to those killed during the October 7 attack at the Israeli music festival Supernova.
A separate time saw him accuse Israel of “abusing the term anti-Semitism to intimidate people like me into silence”, and back in November he speculated that the “fishy” attacks perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 could have been a “false flag operation”.
He has repeatedly denied all accusations of anti-Semitism and explained that his disdain is towards Israel, not Judaism.
Now, Draiman – who has been vocal about his feelings towards Waters in the past – has once again addressed the accusations surrounding the musician and described him as a “monster”.
“He’s a piece of work, that deluded old freak,” he began. Draiman continued: “Antisemitic to his rotten core. Just ask David Gilmour and his wife — they’ll testify to it.”
The latter part of the comment refers to the tension between Waters and his Pink Floyd bandmate. Last year, Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson claimed that Waters was “antisemitic to [his] rotten core,” as well as “a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac”. Gilmour reposted that tweet as well, and told his followers that his spouse’s claims were “demonstrably true”.
Gilmour also showed his support for a documentary called The Dark Side Of Roger Waters, which was produced by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism. The film collates various incidents of alleged anti-Semitism levelled against the musician. Rogers later dismissed the project as “a flimsy, unapologetic piece of propaganda”.
Draiman continued: “He’s a coward. He’s a hypocrite. He is a supporter of dictators and dictatorial regimes all over the world. He’s an apologist for Putin and apologist for anybody that’s on the wrong side of history. He’s a deluded wannabe-socialist as well.
“The guy is a bully. It’s all about hate-fuelled anti-Semitic, spite-filled narrative that continues to fuel this narrative of demonisation of our people. He’s a monster.”
He also went on to share that while he sees the Pink Floyd album ‘The Wall’ as a piece of “great art”, his issues with Waters peaked when he saw the vocalist “flying around a pig in his stadiums with the Star of David on it”.
This relates to the musician’s run of 2023 live shows, in which an inflatable pig was seen and Waters appeared on stage wearing a black trench coat with a swastika-like emblem. At the time the musician defended the choice, claiming that the segment was a statement against fascism, injustice and bigotry and called criticism of it “disingenuous and politically motivated”.
Roger Waters performs on stage at The O2 Arena during the ‘This is Not A Drill’ tour, on June 06, 2023. CREDIT: Jim Dyson/Getty Images
Unsurprisingly the production drew harsh criticism, including from the US State Department, who described it as “deeply offensive to Jewish people”. In April that year, Waters won a legal battle to play a concert in Frankfurt after it was initially cancelled over claims of anti-Semitism. Artists including guitarist Eric Clapton signed a petition to aid this decision.
In the discussion, Draiman went on to confirm that he had never met Waters in person, but would “gladly serve whatever jail time and pay the bail necessary for whatever I could get done within a very limited period of time.” Find the full interview above.
Waters has always denied all accusations of anti-Semitism made against him, and last year told his audience in Birmingham that he was “pissed off” at “the antisemitism bullshit” (via Far Out). He added: “They’re trying to cancel me like they cancelled Jeremy Corbyn and Julian Assange. I will not be cancelled.”
More recently, it was reported that he had been dropped by his label BMG over his comments on Israel, and Eric Clapton later came out in support of the Pink Floyd frontman, saying that his outspoken political views “takes a lot of guts”.
“I love Roger. I love him. We are brothers and he goes his way about it, and it takes a lot of guts, and he suffers from it terribly,” he said last month. “I’ve seen him sit on the window ledge in tears and say ‘It’s morning here in Manhattan and I’m in tears again’, you know?
The comments from the ‘Down With The Sickness’ singer also come after he shared his opinion on Israel’s war on Gaza to the Jewish Chronicle. Here, he said that although he does have “empathy for the Palestinian people”, he believes that “Hamas celebrates death” and needs “to be eradicated”.
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