Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters is fightin’ mad about America’s stance in world politics, going as far as accusing President Biden of being a “war criminal” who is “fueling the fire in Ukraine.”
Waters struck a decidedly political tone to his current “This Is Not a Drill” tour, flashing the following message to his fans filling the audience: “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.”
What followed was a montage of those he deemed “war criminals,” and President Joe Biden was among them.
CNN’s Michael Smerconish sat down with Waters and questioned him about his decision to include Biden.
“Joe Biden is fueling the fire in Ukraine for a start. That’s a huge crime,” a fired-up Water said. “Why won’t the United States of America encourage [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelensky to negotiate, obviating the need for this horrific, horrendous war?”
Smerconish pointed out the obvious, that Russia was the aggressor and Ukraine was the agressee. “You’re blaming the party that got invaded. You’ve got this reversed,” the journalist answered.
But Waters held his ground and continued, criticizing NATO for pushing Russia to make that move and saying, “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 [Mikhail] Gorbachev negotiated the withdrawal of the USSR from the whole of Eastern Europe.”
Smerconish’s suggestion that the U.S. has taken on the role of “liberator” around the world, only for Waters to respond with, “You got into World War 2 because of Pearl Harbor. You were completely isolationists [beforehand]. Thank God the Russians had already won the bloody war by then. 23 million Russians died, protecting you and me from the Nazi menace.”
The complete interview can be seen in the clip above, which also touches on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan – with Waters taking the side of China and telling Smerconish that he’s believing “your side’s propaganda.”
