Singer Roger Waters is seen on a monitor during his address to the UN Security Council. Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

A cross-party group of politicians on the Cologne City Council have united to demand the cancelation of a forthcoming concert in the German city by Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd vocalist who has embroiled himself in a series of scandals over his allegedly antisemitic outbursts and his sympathy for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In an open letter released on Tuesday, the Cologne politicians declared that “there must be no room for antisemitic content on our stages.”

The letter noted that this was “especially true in times when there are more antisemitic attacks, including in Cologne.” Last October, data gathered by the German Federal Criminal Police Office revealed that an average of five antisemitic outrages were reported every day during 2022, continuing the trend of rising levels of Jew-hatred registered in previous years.

Initiated by the left-wing Green Party, the letter demanding the cancelation of Waters’ May 9 concert at Cologne’s Lanxess Arena was signed by representatives of the center-right CDU and FDP parties, the center-left SPD Party and the liberal, pan-European Volt Party.

The letter boosts earlier calls from Jewish and pro-Israel organizations to nix Waters’ performance, among them the German-Israeli Friendship Society and the Cologne Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation.

Waters has established himself as one of the most visible supporters of the campaign to subject the State of Israel to a regime of “boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS)” as a prelude to its elimination as a sovereign state. Waters’ concerts have included antisemitic motifs, such as a Star of David embossed on a pig, while he has made incendiary comments in a number of media interviews about the alleged power of the “Jewish lobby” in the US and Israel’s supposed program of “genocide” targeting the Palestinians.

Responding to the Cologne politicians letter, the management of the Lanxess Arena stated that it was powerless to cancel the concert because of its “contractual obligations.”

“The local organizer and we as the hall operator have no influence on the booking of the artists, or on direct communication with them,” it said in a statement released to the local TN news outlet. “As the Lanxess Arena, our contractual partner in this case is the local organizer. The examination of the contract we had arranged for by a well-known law firm revealed that there is currently no legal basis for an extraordinary termination of the corresponding tenancy.”

Separately, FKP Scorpio, the company organizing the concert, claimed in a statement that the “contract signing and the associated obligations for the Roger Waters shows in question came at a time before the artist made any statements, or we were aware of individual statements that we ourselves find problematic and in no way reflect our own views. We are also in close dialogue about this with the management, who are informed about the legitimate discourse and know our own views. This includes, among other things, that we clearly condemn BDS and Russia’s terrible war of aggression.”

Waters “This is Not A Drill 2023” tour will be staged in several German cities in addition to Cologne, including Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and Munich. The tour coincides with the 50th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd’s seminal album, “Dark Side of the Moon.”

Politicians in Frankfurt have also called for Waters’ May 28 show to be canceled. Earlier this month, Mike Josef — the head of Frankfurt Council’s planning department — said he was launching legal action to cancel the show at the city’s Festhalle.

Waters’ recent activities have included a Feb. 8 appearance at the UN Security Council. Invited to address the body by the Russian mission to the UN, Waters delivered a rambling speech in which he claimed to be speaking on behalf of the world’s “voiceless majority” while denouncing Ukraine’s democratic government as “provocateurs.”

The singer’s detractors number his former Pink Floyd bandmate, guitarist David Gilmour. Responding to an interview Waters gave to a German news outlet earlier this year in which he accused Israel of waging “genocide,” Gilmour and his wife, the novelist Polly Samson, tweeted: “Sadly Roger Waters, you are antisemitic to your rotten core. Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”