Roger Waters, a famous musician from the band Pink Floyd, recently got very upset with Bono, the singer from U2. In a new interview with Al Jazeera, Roger called Bono “disgusting” and “a terrible person” because of something Bono said during a concert in Las Vegas.
At that concert, part of U2’s big show at the Sphere, Bono talked about a sad event on October 7 when many people were hurt at a music festival in Israel. He said a song about peace felt strange after what happened, but he still sang “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” to honor those who were lost. He changed some words to sing about the “Stars of David” and the kids at the festival, showing his support for them.
In the light of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence…
But our hearts and our anger, you know where that’s pointed. So sing with us… and those… pic.twitter.com/S1zfCMNtzz
— U2 (@U2) October 9, 2023
Roger didn’t like this at all. He’s been against Israel for a long time and thought Bono’s words were awful. In the interview, Roger said his mom taught him to read a lot to understand tough things and then do what’s right. He was so mad at Bono that he said someone should shake him upside down until he stops saying things Roger doesn’t agree with. Roger called Bono’s performance one of the worst things he’s ever seen.
Roger has been in the news a lot lately for speaking out about Israel and the fighting in Palestine. Some people have accused him of not liking Jewish people, but he says that’s not true—he just doesn’t like what Israel is doing. He thinks they use those accusations to scare him into being quiet.
If Gates’ mate ever won a lifetime award it would have to be for a lifetime of kissing elite arse. https://t.co/tTFnsNMn5M
— David Icke (@davidicke) February 18, 2024
There was even a documentary called The Dark Side Of Roger Waters that said he’s done mean things toward Jewish people. It talked about a concert in Germany where he wore a coat that looked like something from a bad time in history, which upset a lot of people. Roger said it was meant to fight against unfairness, not to hurt anyone, and he didn’t like the documentary. He called it unfair and said it twisted his words to make him look bad.
Roger also won a fight to do a concert in Frankfurt after it was canceled over these same arguments, and his music label, BMG, recently stopped working with him because of his strong opinions. Meanwhile, U2 used their Las Vegas shows to talk about something else—they honored a man named Alexei Navalny from Russia who passed away in jail on February 16.
This shows how Roger and Bono, two big music stars, feel very differently about some serious topics, and they’re not afraid to say it out loud!
