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.
READ MORE: Roger Waters Says He’s ‘Far, Far More Important’ Than Drake & The Weeknd
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.”
Waters might be the dumbest rock star in history & the bar isn’t high. https://t.co/wheAbfBZqJ
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 7, 2022
Many on Twitter defended Waters, while others blasted him over his comments. The reaction had his name trending on the social media platform.
Roger Waters should stick to the guitar instead of weighing in on geopolitical subjects he clearly knows nothing about.
The gall of this cretin telling people to "read more" is like an alcoholic telling a sober person to drink less. https://t.co/yUxnSJxINH
— Oliver Jia (オリバー・ジア) (@OliverJia1014) August 7, 2022
Roger Waters is interviewed on CNN and exposes their propaganda pic.twitter.com/lt4auZ2Ml9
— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) August 6, 2022
This is the first time I’ve seen a CNN guest take one of the network’s jingoistic halfwits to the woodshed on Ukraine and Taiwan so comprehensively in such a short amount of time. And it was @rogerwaters. pic.twitter.com/maN4DTdMhO
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) August 7, 2022
I took CNN's edit of the Roger Waters interview and compared a particular section, where Roger spoke about Ukraine, to the uncut version that contained some important context about the Minsk agreements but was taken out by producers. pic.twitter.com/uOUqeN59nL
— Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) August 8, 2022
Rule of thumb: Anything Roger Waters says about geopolitics is wrong https://t.co/KSnnOAFKEO
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) August 7, 2022
Roger Waters a week before Russia invaded Ukraine: “Anybody with an IQ above room temperature knows an invasion is nonsense." https://t.co/PwOGXa0D7g https://t.co/8r4ZoaZv0A
— Chris York (@ChrisDYork) August 7, 2022
Roger Waters’ of this world, all those who during a cruel war chose a side of neutrality or the aggressor! At some point you’ll know: this was the defining point by which you’ll be judged. Not only by all the tortured, crippled, murdered Ukrainians – but by history. @rogerwaters
— olexander scherba🇺🇦 (@olex_scherba) August 7, 2022
Arrogance is the conjoined twin of ignorance. What Roger Waters and alike think about Taiwan is mostly irrelevant. I hope it stays that way. But one has to wonder: is the CCP getting better at imparting these lies into the minds of people around the world? https://t.co/GGKF8BJvKk
— Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 (@Yaqiu) August 7, 2022