In an unexpected tweet, David Gilmour’s wife, author Polly Samson, called his Pink Floyd bandmate Rogers Waters a misogynistic, antisemitic, and Putin apologist, among several other things. Gilmour then backed her claims, calling them “demonstrably true.”
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“Sadly, you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” tweeted Samson. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”
The Pink Floyd guitarist and singer retweeted his wife’s post adding, “Every word demonstrably true.”
A response to Samson and Gilmour’s posts was later posted on Waters’ official Twitter and Instagram pages. “Roger Waters is aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments made about him on Twitter by Polly Samson, which he refutes entirely,” read the statement. “He is currently taking advice to his position.”
Samson’s tweet is likely a response to Waters’s recent interview where he said that it was “really, really sad” that his ex-bandmates recorded a pro-Ukraine protest song under the Pink Floyd name.
In 2022, Gilmour and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, along with longtime bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney released the single and video for “Hey Hey Rise Up,” their first release since the band’s 1994 release, The Division Bell, and their 15th mostly instrumental album, The Endless River, in 2014. The song, which also features the vocals of Andriy Khlyvnyuk, the lead singer of Ukrainian band Boombox, who is serving in the war, was released to help raise money for Humanitarian Relief in Ukraine.
Waters has been outspoken about his stance on the current war in Ukraine and at one point called U.S. President Joe Biden a “war criminal” for supplying the country with arms and further “fueling” its war with Russia.
In the interview that likely sparked Samson’s post, Waters stood by his previous comments, likening the state of Israel to the nazis. He also said he was open to listening to what Russian President Vladimir Putin had to say about his invasion of Ukraine.
Waters previously called Putin a “gangster,” in a letter to the Russian leader, which he posted in 2022, but pulled back his previous comment on the president. “I may have changed my mind a little bit in the last year,” said Waters of Putin. “The most important reason for supplying arms to Ukraine is surely profit for the arms industry. And I wonder: is Putin a bigger gangster than Joe Biden and all those in charge of American politics since World War II? I am not so sure. Putin didn’t invade Vietnam or Iraq?”
He added, “Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I am now more open to listen what Putin actually says.”
Later in 2022, Waters released a darker version of the Pink Floyd’s The Wall classic “Comfortably Numb.” His more somber version “Comfortably Numb 2022,” is part of a collection of demos he originally recorded during the pandemic and will release along with rerecorded solo songs in a new album The Lockdown Sessions. He later re-recorded The Wall track during the recent U.S. leg of his This Is Not A Drill Tour.
The This Is Not A Drill Tour in Europe will continue in 2023 with 40 shows stretching across 14 European countries, beginning on March 17 in Lisbon, Portugal and wrapping up on June 10 in Manchester, England.
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