Pink Floyd Founder Roger Waters Denies Cancelling Polish Gig's Over Ukraine Backlash

Pink Floyd founder, Roger Waters, has allegedly cancelled two polish gigs after receiving backlash over his outspoken opinion that Ukraine should pursue peace with Russia. 

The backlash comes after Walters recently sent a public letter to the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, in which he blamed “extreme nationalists” in Ukraine for having “set your country on the path to this disastrous war”. Zelenska replied on Twitter, tagging Waters and explaining "It is Russia which invaded, destroys cities and kills civilians. Ukrainians defend their land and their children’s future.  If we give up — we will not exist tomorrow. If [Russia] gives up — war will be over."

Fans also expressed their distaste online towards Waters obscure comments, but congratulated Zelenska on her tactful reply. Some fans went as far to say that Waters comments have permanently tainted their view of Pink Floyd, despite the fact Waters hasn't been apart of the band since 1983.

Poland has reacted by expressing their intent to name Waters as a "persona non grata", with a meeting to further discuss the matter to be held next week. Many media outlets took this as the straw that finally broke the camels back in regards to Waters intent to tour in Poland. However, in a recent statement on Facebook to his fans, Waters denies that his recent cancellations have had anything to do with his own feelings towards the backlash, quoting other powers at play. 

“It is true that a town councillor in Krakow, a Mr Łukasz Wantuch, has threatened to hold a meeting asking the council to declare me ‘persona non grata’ because of my public efforts to encourage all involved in the disastrous war in Ukraine, especially the governments of the USA and Russia, to work towards a negotiated peace, rather than escalate matters towards a bitter end that could be nuclear war and the end of all life on this planet.

“Not withstanding that this chap Łukasz Wantuch seems to know nothing of my history of working, all my life, at some personal cost, in the service of human rights, he, in an article in a local newspaper urged the good people of Krakow not to buy tickets to my show. Not very democratic sir?”

Waters went on to assure fans that he does in fact plan to perform in Krakow next April, noting that if Wantuch is successful in having the artist barred from entering the city, “it will be a sad loss for me”. He continued: “I have been looking forward to sharing my message of love with the people of Poland, something I have been doing on many tours over a career that has lasted in excess of 50 years.”

The musician has also commented saying that Wantuch's views are "draconian" and that he is denying the Polish people the "opportunity to make up their own minds". 

Tickets for Waters’ Polish shows are not available to purchase online, with Live Nation, Ticketmaster and the venue itself all having removed their pages on the shows. This doesn’t appear to be the case for any other dates on Waters’ upcoming European tour, which will officially kick off in Lisbon, Portugal on Friday March 17.