Roger Waters has been granted permission to perform in Frankfurt, Germany, after a previous ban.
Waters' interview with Berliner Zeitung newspaper ahead of his Germany show led Frankfurt's city council to cancel his show. They called the singer "one of the world's most well-known antisemites," causing them to come up with the decision.
The one-time Pink Floyd frontman shrugged it off and fought for what he wanted while receiving support from fans and colleagues. After the move, Waters was permitted to push through with his show.
Roger Waters To Perform in Frankfurt After Previous Postponement
As shared by The Guardian, a Frankfurt-based administrative court ruled that Waters can now proceed with his performance although it previously saw his actions "tasteless."
The ruling sided that Waters' show "did not glorify or relativize the crimes of the Nazis or identify with Nazi racist ideology." Instead, his concert should be seen as a "work of art" by a person who should have freedom of artistic expression.
Waters will perform at Frankfurt's Festhelle on May 28.
The city council can still reportedly appeal against the ruling, and some city authorities already expressed their dismay over the development.
President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, said: "that a display of symbols based on National Socialism should have no legal consequences."
For what it's worth, they objected to the concert since - apart from Rogers' alleged anti-Semitic remarks - the venue was used to detain 3,000 Jewish men between Nov. 1 to 19, 1938, following an arrest. According to Jerusalem Post, the use of the location only showed the singer's support of the BDS campaign while using antisemitic imagery.
Roger Waters Accused of Being Antisemite
Waters found himself in hot water when his website posted a translated version of his interview with Berliner Zeitung newspaper, in which he said, "Putin [is] a bigger gangster than Joe Biden and all those in charge of American politics since World War II."
The musician sparked more fury when he praised Putin for governing his country carefully.
In response to his statement, Pink Floyd David Gilmour's wife and the band's lyricist Polly Samson slammed him and called him a "Putin apologist" and antisemite.
Meanwhile, Waters' representative called out Samson for her "incendiary and wildly inaccurate" tweets.
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