Bertelsmann Faces Pressure To Sever Ties With Roger Waters Amid Antisemitism Allegations

General view of several protesters from pro Palestine activists hold a banner of '' welcome to Cologne in Germany in May 2023. Fourteen prominent Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee wrote to BMG. The letter noted, in part, that “BMG’s client Roger Waters recently caused an uproar in Germany when he donned a Nazi-like uniform . YING TANG/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES.

German media conglomerate Bertelsmann announced in 2016 that it had, effectively, told Pink Floyd frontman Rogers Waters “Wish You Were Here” and let’s make “Money” while being “Comfortably Numb” to the chutzpah of a company with a troubling World War II-era history signing a noted antisemite.

Fourteen prominent Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith International, Anti-Defamation League, Conference of European Rabbis, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Simon Wiesenthal Center and World Jewish Congress, recently wrote to BMG, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann, urging it to cease working with Waters.