In response to a controversy in Germany where the rock star’s wearing of a Nazi-style uniform at a Berlin concert provoked a police inquiry, Pink Floyd’s frontman Roger Waters declared he condemns “fascism” in all its forms.
After pictures of the co-founder of Pink Floyd appeared online last week at the Mercedes-Benz arena wearing a long, black coat and red armbands and firing a toy submachine gun from World War II, Berlin police announced on Friday that they were investigating into Waters.
A police spokeswoman informed the French news agency AFP that authorities are looking into the “suspicion of incitement to public hatred because the clothing worn on stage could be used to glorify or justify Nazi rule”.
The case will be turned over to Berlin prosecutors after the police investigation is finished, according to the police.
In a statement posted on his Twitter account on Saturday, Waters said his Berlin concert had “attracted bad faith attacks from those who want to smear and silence me because they disagree with my political views”.
Waters said attempts to portray his performance as anything but anti-Fascist were “disingenuous and politically motivated”.
“The elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms,” he said.
“The depiction of an unhinged fascist demagogue has been a feature of my shows since Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ in 1980,” he said.
“I have spent my entire life speaking out against authoritarianism and oppression where I set it… My parents fought the Nazis in World War II, with my father paying the ultimate price,” he said.
“Regardless of the consequences of the attacks against me, I will continue to condemn injustice and all those who perpetrate it.”
