March 19, 2024

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Pink Floyd: Roger Waters' shows in Poland canceled after Ukraine's controversial speech

Pink Floyd: Roger Waters’ shows in Poland canceled after Ukraine’s controversial speech

Live Nation Poland, the party’s promoter, confirmed the cancellation on Saturday but did not specify a reason.

Waters also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Redoubling his 2019 election promises, he said, without providing evidence, that “the forces of ultra-nationalism that have been latent, malign, in the shadows, have since, since then, ruled Ukraine.”

Waters went on to accuse these “radical nationalists” of putting Ukraine on the path to war with Russia by crossing “a number of red lines” set by the Kremlin.

Waters denied on Sunday that he had canceled the shows himself. The performances were scheduled to take place in Krakow as part of his international tour.

in Facebook statement Addressed to Britain’s Guardian newspapers and Poland’s Gazeta Krakowska, Waters denied that he or his management had canceled shows in Poland. Instead, he blamed Lukas Wantosh, a Krakow city councilor who wrote his own Facebook post on September 10 opposing Waters’ offers.

It is true that a Krakow City Council member, Mr. Łukasz Wantuch, has threatened to convene a meeting asking the council to declare me “persona non grata” because of my overt efforts to encourage all those involved in the disastrous war in Ukraine, especially the two governments of the United States, Waters wrote on Facebook: And Russia, to work toward a negotiated peace, rather than escalating matters toward a bitter end that could be nuclear war and the end of all life on this planet.”

“No matter that this chapter ukasz Wantuch seems to have known nothing of the history of my work, all my life, at 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 My show tickets.”

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He went on to say that if Wantosh achieved his “goal… it would be a sad loss for me” as well as for the people of Krakow.

“His strict control over my work will deprive them of the opportunity to make their own decisions,” Waters concluded.

Wantoch’s post expressed his opposition to Waters’ show, calling the musician an “outspoken supporter of Putin” and his planned performances in Krakow “a disgrace to our city”.

“Roger Waters, an outspoken supporter of Putin, wants to play at the Tooron Arena in Krakow,” Wantuch wrote. “On Wednesday we have a session of the Krakow City Council and I will talk to the president and council members to prevent it. Such an event would be a disgrace to our city. Let him sing in Moscow.”

Wantuch responded to Waters’ statement on Sunday by writing that he is still in Ukraine but will “get an offer” to Waters in the evening.

Earlier this year, Pink Floyd released Their first new music in 28 years, a single called “Hey Hey Rise Up” to raise funds for humanitarian relief in Ukraine. Waters, who left the band in 1984, did not contribute to the song.
Nearly 6,000 civilians have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, The United Nations says.

CNN’s Sarah Diab and Claudia Ribaza contributed to this report.