Roger Waters has denied cancelling his two shows at Poland’s Tauron Arena in Krakow, over his incendiary comments on the Russian/Ukrainian war.
As part of his ‘This Is Not A Drill’ tour, Waters is due to perform at the Polish venue on April 21 and 22 next year.
However, these dates were removed from the former Pink Floyd singer’s website, reportedly cancelled because of comments Waters made about the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
A representative for the Tauron Arena Lukasz Pytko alleged thatcWaters’ managment “decided to withdraw [from their scheduled booking] without giving any reason”.
City councillors have alleged that Krakow were planning to vote on a proposal on whether or not to render Waters “persona non grata”. Councillors have reportedly spoken about their “indignation” over the singer’s stance on the war.
Waters Denies Reports
In response, Roger Waters issued a strong statement, denying these reports. He also took aim at Krakow city councillors for attempting to censor him.
“It is true that a town councillor in Krakow, a Mr Łukasz Wantuch, has threatened to hold a meeting asking the council to declare me ‘persona non grata’ because of my public efforts to encourage all involved in the disastrous war in Ukraine, especially the governments of the USA and Russia, to work towards a negotiated peace, rather than escalate matters towards a bitter end that could be nuclear war and the end of all life on this planet”, Waters said in his statement.
“Not withstanding that this chap Łukasz Wantuch seems to know nothing of my history of working, all my life, at some personal cost, in the service of human rights, he, in an article in a local newspaper urged the good people of Krakow not to buy tickets to my show. Not very democratic sir?”.
Waters also insisted that he in fact will take to the stage in Poland on those two dates. He added that should Lukasz Wantuch have is way and have him censored, then it will be “a sad loss for him”.
“I have been looking forward to sharing my message of love with the people of Poland, something I have been doing on many tours over a career that has lasted in excess of 50 years”, he added.
Waters also described Wantuch’s attempts at censorship as “draconian”.
As mentioned, the former Pink Floyd singer called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “the act of a gangster”. More on this here.
