RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Hotels in Argentina and Uruguay have rejected Roger Waters’ reservations over anti-Semitism accusations against the Pink Floyd co-founder over his pro-Palestinian stances.
The British musician had planned to stay in Buenos Aires before his concerts scheduled for November 21 and 22 as part of his “This is Not a Drill” tour, but his reservations were canceled, and the hotels said that was because they did not have availability, the Argentine newspaper Pagina 12 reported on Wednesday. .
Hotels in Montevideo, in neighboring Uruguay, also refused to accommodate him, but did not provide a reason, Waters said, according to a Page 12 article.
The singer said that as a result he is still in São Paulo, where he performed a concert a few days ago.
“I had dinner on the 16th of this month with Jose Mujica, the former president of Uruguay, who is a friend of mine. I can’t go… because the Israeli lobby, whatever its name, has canceled me,” Waters told Page 12.
Page 12 reported that the head of the Israeli Central Committee in Uruguay, Robbie Schindler, sent a letter to the Sofitel asking it not to host Waters.
Waters has been accused of anti-Semitism for years. This month the US government did too. The State Department said the musician had a “long history of using anti-Semitic tropes to denigrate the Jewish people.”
The singer categorically rejected these accusations during his interview with Page 12.
“They do this because I believe in human rights and speak out about the genocide of the Palestinian people,” Waters said.
In a recent interview with journalist Glenn Greenwald, Waters said that the surprise attack by Hamas fighters in Israel on October 7 “was blown out of proportion by the Israelis, who made up stories about children being beheaded.”
