Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters faced investigation from German authorities recently after photos were released showing the rock star allegedly adopting SS-style uniforms during a concert in Berlin.
Among the backlash he received, several photos appeared online that suggested that a replica of Pink Floyd’s iconic floating pig had also been emblazoned with the Star of David during a solo performance by Waters in the German capital.
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The Claim
A tweet by journalist Peter Tedeschi, posted on May 25, 2023, viewed 214,000 times, showed an image of a floating pig prop, covered with a number of symbols including what looked like the Star of David.
The tweet stated: “Roger Waters, once of Pink Floyd, is a rampant bigot and Jew-hater. He dressed as an SS officer, firing a mock automatic weapon, put a Star of David on a pig, and engaged in Holocaust revisionism by co-opting the name of Anne Frank.
“And he did it at a concert in BERLIN.”
The Facts
The floating pig has been part of Pink Floyd iconography since the release of the band’s 1977 album Animals, which depicted one flying over the chimneys of London’s Battersea Power Station on the record’s front cover.
The prop has been used repeatedly in live shows and promotions since; one was flown over the then defunct power station in 2011 to celebrate the launch of the band’s re-release campaign “Why Pink Floyd?”, reported the BBC.
Named Algie by Waters, the design was inspired by George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which depicted the creatures as the story’s greedy and corrupt rulers.
The notion, amid Waters’ recent controversy, that a pig was tagged with the Star of David at the recent concert in Berlin would only add to the criticisms of antisemitism that the Pink Floyd founder now faces—allegations that he denies.
However, while the photo shared on Twitter is from a Roger Waters concert, it was not flown during the most recent tour.
Videos taken of the floating pig at the tour in Berlin do not show the prop with the Jewish symbol. Footage from the tour, which has been shared online, also shows the prop did not feature the symbol.
While Newsweek was unable to verify the source of the original photo, it did feature in a 2012 blog post reviewing a Waters performance in Washington D.C.
Video of the same prop was captured elsewhere at a 2013 concert in Belgium, where Waters also appeared in an SS-like uniform on stage. The symbol’s feature on the prop was also mentioned in an open letter by the Anti-Defamation League to Waters published the same year.
The photo of the offending prop has nonetheless featured in reports and social media posts about the concert in Berlin which perhaps has caused confusion.
While the appearance of the prop mentioned in 2013 caused offense then, it is evidently not from the recent Berlin concert associated with the uniform controversy.
In a statement issued on Twitter last week in response to the controversy over the uniform, Waters said: “My recent performance in Berlin has attracted bad faith attacks from those who want to smear and silence me because they disagree with my political views and moral principles.”
“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.
Newsweek has contacted a Roger Waters representative via an email provided by his official website.
Waters has faced criticism on other matters in the past year. In 2022 he blamed “extreme nationalists” in Ukraine for the ongoing war, claiming Kyiv had “crossed any number of red lines that had been set out quite clearly” by Moscow.
The rock star also claimed during an interview with Rolling Stone that he had been put on a Ukrainian kill list. Newsweek found that his characterization was inaccurate, with no conclusive evidence that he ever appeared on such a list.
The Ruling
Misleading Material.
While a Pink Floyd floating pig prop featuring the Star of David was featured at a Roger Waters concert, it was not from his recent tour date in Berlin.
The prop with the Jewish symbol was featured in a photo blog review from 2012 and captured on film at a concert in Belgium in 2013. The image has, however, been used in some news reports and social media posts about Waters’ recent tour date in Berlin.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team