Facing Flap Over War Remarks, Roger Waters Cancels Concerts

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has canceled concerts planned in Poland in the wake of outrage over his stance on Russia's war against Ukraine, Polish media reported Saturday. An official with the Tauron Arena in Krakow, where Waters was scheduled to perform two concerts in April, said they would no longer take place, the AP reports. "Roger Waters' manager decided to withdraw ... without giving any reason," Lukasz Pytko from Tauron Arena Krakow said Saturday in comments carried by Polish media outlets. The website for Waters' "This Is Not a Drill" concert tour did not list the Krakow concerts previously scheduled for April 21-22.

City councilors in Krakow were planning to vote next week on a proposal to name Waters a persona non grata, expressing "indignation" over the musician's stance on the war in Ukraine. Last month, Waters labeled President Biden a "war criminal" for his support of Ukraine in the fighting. And early this month, Waters wrote an open letter to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska in which he blamed "extreme nationalists" in Ukraine for having “set your country on the path to this disastrous war.” He also criticized the West for supplying Ukraine with weapons, blaming Washington in particular. Waters has also criticized NATO, accusing it of provoking Russia.

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