SWC Joins 14 International Jewish Organizations Calling on BMG to Cut Ties With Roger Waters

July 19, 2023

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is joining 14 leading Jewish organizations from around the world in an open letter calling on Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG)  and its CEO Thomas Coesfeld to reconsider its business relationship with Pink Floyd front man and anti-Israel zealot Roger Waters.

The letter, coordinated by Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), a non-profit entertainment industry organization, comes in response to Waters’ recent concerts in Germany where he performed in a Nazi-like uniform and compared Palestinian-American Shireen Abu Aqleh journalist to Anne Frank.

The letter, read in part, “In response to this most recent incident, the EU Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life and the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, both loudly condemned Mr. Waters.

The US State Department also stated that Waters recent concert "contained imagery deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust." The State Department added that, “The artist in question has a long track record of using anti-Semitic tropes to denigrate. Jewish people. Unfortunately, the State Department is 100% correct, as this is just the latest in a long list. of troubling antisemitic incidents by Mr. Waters…. All of this has happened at a time when antisemitic incidents are rising at alarming rates around the world.”

View full letter here

For further information, please email Michele Alkin, Director of Global Communications at malkin@wiesenthal.com or Shawn Rodgers at srodgers@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish human rights organization numbering over 400.000 members. It holds consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO).