Roger Waters has hit out at “timid” and “unpleasant” Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.
Roger Waters has launched a fresh attack on Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke
The Pink Floyd co-founder, a longstanding supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, has repeatedly attacked Yorke and Radiohead for choosing to perform in Israel and for what he perceives as their weak alignment with the Palestinian cause.
Speaking on The Katie Halper Show, the 82-year-old musician said of Yorke: “He’s a timid little bloke. I think he’s unpleasant company. I wrote him many letters you know.”
The tension between Waters and Yorke dates back to 2017, when Radiohead went ahead with a concert in Tel Aviv despite calls – including from Waters – to cancel under a cultural boycott of Israel. Waters has publicly opposed such performances ever since, citing his alignment with BDS since 2011.
When asked if Yorke ever replied to his letters, Waters said: “Yes, he did respond. It’s all going in my memoir. He got very very snarky and he was trying to be fun[ny].”
Yorke, for his part, has defended his past actions and clarified that Radiohead does not support Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu any more than they endorse US President Donald Trump.
At the time, he said: “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government.”
Earlier this year, Yorke issued a lengthy reflection on the Israel–Gaza conflict as he described an incident during a solo show in Melbourne when he was heckled by a protester.
The 57-year-old singer posted on social media: “Some guy shouting at me from the dark last year when I was picking up a guitar to sing the final song alone in front of 9000 people in Melbourne didn’t really seem like the best moment to discuss the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Afterwards I remained in shock that my supposed silence was somehow being taken as complicity, and I struggled to find an adequate way to respond to this and to carry on with the rest of the shows on the tour.
“That silence, my attempt to show respect for all those who are suffering and those who have died, and to not trivialise it in a few words, has allowed other opportunistic groups to use intimidation and defamation to fill in the blanks, and I regret giving them this chance. This has had a heavy toll on my mental health.”
