Internal Pink Floyd Feud Reignited Amid Antisemitism Accusations

David Gilmour has taken aim at his former Pink Floyd bandmate Roger Waters, reigniting a decadeslong feud between the pair. 

The tensions arose Monday when Gilmour's wife, Polly Samson, took to Twitter to slam Waters for being "antisemitic to your rotten core."

"Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac," Samson added. "Enough of your nonsense."

Gilmour re-shared the tweet, adding "every word demonstrably true."

In response to Samson's post, Waters issued a statement on Twitter saying he was aware of the "incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments" made about him. Waters said he "refutes entirely" the comments and added that he's "currently taking advice" to his position. 

Samson's comments appear to be in response to a recent interview Waters conducted with the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung. When asked whether he still believed his past remarks about the state of Israel being comparable to Nazi Germany, Waters acknowledged he did. 

"Yes, of course," he replied, according to a translation posted on his website. "The Israelis are committing genocide. Just like Great Britain did during our colonial period."

Discussing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Waters doubled down on his criticism of the United States and President Joe Biden's role in the Russian-Ukraine war. He called America the "main aggressor," saying that the conflict was "provoked beyond all measure."

During the interview, Waters also spoke about his former Pink Floyd bandmates' decision to release the benefit song "Hey Hey Rise Up" last year. The single featured Ukrainian musician Andriy Khlyvnyuk and was released as part of an effort to raise funds for humanitarian charities aiding those affected by the Russian-Ukraine war.

Waters said the action was "so lacking in humanity."

"It encourages the continuation of the war," he said. "Pink Floyd is a name I used to be associated with. That was a huge time in my life, a very big deal. To associate that name now with something like this … proxy war makes me sad."

Waters stated that the band did not "make the point of demanding, ‘Stop the war, stop the slaughter, bring our leaders together to talk!'" 

"It’s just this contentless waving of the blue and yellow flag," he added. "I wrote in one of my letters to the Ukrainian teenager Alina: I will not raise a flag in this conflict, not a Ukrainian flag, not a Russian flag, not a U.S. flag."

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