Roger Waters Show Kickoff Leads to Heated Exchange with CNN
Roger Waters took part in an interview with CNN that got more heated than likely both Waters and host Michael Smerconish expected.
Smerconish asked Waters about the controversial way he kicks off shows on his “This is Not a Drill Tour.” As previously reported, Waters kicks off his shows with a pre-recorded message that states, “Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. The show is about to begin. Before it does, two public announcements: Firstly, out of consideration for your fellow patrons, please turn off your cell phones. And secondly, if you’re one of those ‘I love Pink Floyd, but I can’t stand Roger’s politics’ people, you might do well to f— off to the bar right now. Thank you. Please sit back and enjoy the show.”
When asked why he starts the show that way, Waters responded, “Because it’s a really good way to start the show. Apart from anything else, it sets a few things straight. It also encourages a lot of the people who’ve come to the show because they have listened to everything I’ve written since, you know, 1965 or wherever I started writing songs [laughs]. So, they do know what my politics are and they do understand where my heart is and they understand sort of why I’m there.”
Waters continued, “But maybe it also gives a message to people who don’t want to be there, in which case, them f—ing off to the bar is probably not a bad idea. Except that you never know, those people, if they sit in a community like my audiences on this tour, there is such a great feeling of communication in that room between me and the audience. And between us combined with all of our brothers and sisters all over the rest of the world. Irrespective of who they are, where they live, their ethnicity, their religion, their nationality or anything else. Because if ‘This is Not a Drill’ has a message, it is that we have to communicate one with the other.”
Waters was then pressed on how he refers to President Joe Biden during his show as a “war criminal” who’s “just getting started.” He said of President Biden in relation to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia, “This war is basically about the action and reaction of NATO pushing right up to the Russian border – which they promised they wouldn’t do when Gorbachev negotiated the withdrawal of the U.S.S.R. from the whole of Eastern Europe.”
The whole conversation devolves into a very intense exchange about the United States’ role as “liberators” throughout history, China’s allegations of violating the human rights of its own citizens and the country’s relationship with Taiwan.
The exchange can be viewed below.
