Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters clashes with CNN host over Ukraine

Pink Floyd co-founder Rogers Waters has clashed with CNN presenter Michael Smerconish about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, TMZ reports.

The English musician and composer sat down with Smerconish at the weekend to discuss his music, tour and politics.

Waters is currently on his 2022 This Is Not A Drill tour, which was postponed because of the pandemic.

The musician has attracted attention on social media over comments he made about the war in Ukraine.

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Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images

Roger Waters clashes with CNN host

Roger Waters appeared on CNN presenter Michael Smerconish’s show on Saturday morning (August 8).

Smerconish was showing the musician a montage on the screen that included a picture of Joe Biden when the musician stated (via Spin): “Well, he’s fuelling the fire in the Ukraine for a start – that is a huge crime. Why won’t the United States of America encourage Zelenskyy to negotiate, obviating the need for this horrific, horrendous war that’s killing we don’t know how many Russians?”

The CNN presenter questioned Waters’ comments, accusing him of getting his views “reversed” by “blaming the party that got invaded.”

“Well, any war, when did it start?” Waters asked. “What you need to do is look at the history, and you can say, ‘Well it started on this day.’ You could say it [Ukraine-Russia conflict] 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 Gorbachev negotiated the withdrawal of the USSR from the whole of eastern Europe.”

Wothappen has reached out to Roger Waters for comment.

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Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters: “Taiwan is part of China and that’s been absolutely accepted by the whole of the int’l community since 1948, and if you don’t know that, you’re not reading enough. Go and read about it.” pic.twitter.com/OjSwWpbDke— Zhang Heqing张和清 (@zhang_heqing) August 7, 2022

Elsewhere in the interview, Waters told Smerconish he should try to figure out what the US would do if the “Chinese were putting nuclear-armed missiles into Mexico or Canada.”

The CNN presenter said: “The Chinese are too busy encircling Taiwan as we speak.”

The musician replied: “They’re not encircling Taiwan. 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.”

Interview sparks Twitter debate

The CNN interview sparked a huge debate among Twitter users with some defending Waters and others slamming him for his comments.

“Just seen that clip of Roger Waters on CNN weighing in on Ukraine and NATO and, my word, it’s not surprising the rest of Pink Floyd wanted him out,” one Twitter user commented.

Another wrote: “I saw the interview of Roger Waters on CNN. All I can say is I am going to burn all my Pink Floyd records.”

Others defended Waters, however, with one Twitter user writing: “I love Roger Waters. He’s the real deal.”

Former Democratic Minnesota congressional candidate Johnny Akzam tweeted:

.@rogerwaters attempts to educate @smerconish of CNN about the propaganda they spread. pic.twitter.com/Y9xuMkF6oj— Johnny Akzam (@JohnnyAkzam) August 6, 2022

The post Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters clashes with CNN host over Ukraine appeared first on Wothappen .