The former Pink Floyd frontman is still sparking controversy.
With an appearance on CNN over the weekend, Roger Waters got a lot of attention, commenting on Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as China and more.
Asked why, on his current tour, Waters included U.S. President Joe Biden in a montage of “war criminals,” the 78-year-old explained, “Well, he’s fuelling the war in the Ukraine. That is a huge crime. Why won’t the United States of America encourage [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to negotiate, obviating the need for this horrific, horrendous war?”
“But you’re blaming the party who got invaded,” CNN host Michael Smerconish said. “You’ve got it reversed.”
Waters responded, “Well, any war, when did it start? What you need to do is look at the history, and you can say, ‘Well, it started on this day.’ You could say it started in 2008…. 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.”
“What about our role as liberators?” the host asked.
“We have no role as liberators,” Waters told him. “I would suggest to you, Michael, that you go away and read a bit more, and then try and figure out what the United States would do if the Chinese were putting nuclear-armed missiles into Mexico and Canada?”
When Smerconish responded that China is “too busy encircling Taiwan” at the moment to consider such an action, the rocker reacted, “They’re not encircling Taiwan!”
Waters continued, “Taiwan is part of China. And that’s been absolutely accepted by the whole of the international community since 1948 and if you don’t know that, you’re not reading enough. Go and read about it.”
The interview with the rock star, who has long commented on politics and included political messages in his music, stirred up a divided response.
On Twitter, former “Good Morning Britain” host Piers Morgan called him the “dumbest rock star in history.”