David Gilmour has vowed that he will “absolutely not” ever perform with his former Pink Floyd bandmate Roger Waters again.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the ‘Wish You Were Here’ singer shut down any kind of optimistic ideas that he would potentially reunite with Waters. “Absolutely not. I tend to steer clear of people who actively support genocidal and autocratic dictators like Putin and Maduro [president of Venezuela],” he told the outlet.
Gilmour continued: “Nothing would make me share a stage with someone who thinks such treatment of women and the LGBT community is OK. On the other hand, I’d love to be back on stage with [Pink Floyd keyboardist] Rick Wright, who was one of the gentlest and most musically gifted people I’ve ever known.”
The two musicians have had a tumultuous relationship for decades now, with Gilmour most recently attacking Waters with claims of anti-semitism earlier this year. Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson shared a tweet in which she accused Waters of being “anti-Semitic to [his] rotten core”.
She continued: “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.” Gilmour re-shared Samson’s tweet, adding that “every word [is] demonstrably true”.
Waters himself issued a statement in response, which saw him describe Samson’s comments as “incendiary and wildly inaccurate” and continued that he “refutes [them] entirely”. He added that he was “taking advice as to his position” regarding the claims.
Samson’s comments came after Waters took part in an interview with German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, and shared his views on Israel and the Russian-Ukraine war.
Per a translated version of the interview on Waters’ site, the musician was at one point asked if he still believed – as he had said in the past – that the state of Israel was comparable to Nazi Germany. “Yes, of course,” he replied. “The Israelis are committing genocide. Just like Great Britain did during our colonial period.”
Just last month, Glimour discussed the idea of a potential Pink Floyd reunion with ITV News and said: “Dream on, it’s not going to happen. There’s only three people left and we’re not talking and unlikely to so it’s not gonna happen.”
Elsewhere, the legendary prog rock band recently sold their back catalogue for $400million in a deal with Sony.
According to Music Business Worldwide, the legendary rock veterans’ deal with the music giant is set to include the band’s recording catalogue, neighbouring rights, and name and likeness rights. However, the band’s publishing rights were not included in the deal.
The deal came shortly after Gilmour told Rolling Stone that it would be a “dream” to be able to sell Pink Floyd’s back catalogue, but not because of the financial gain the sale would bring.
He said he’d be most tempted to sell to “be rid of the decision-making and the arguments that are involved with keeping it going,” and added: “I am not interested in that from a financial standpoint. I’m only interested in it from getting out of the mud bath that it has been for quite a while.”
In other news, Gilmour has been in recent headlines following the release of his new album ‘Luck and Strange’, which was issued on September 6. He performed his first live gig in four years at a pub open mic night and spoke out against the dynamic pricing practices that followed the release of Oasis concert tickets.
“I think Oasis should do exactly what they want to do,” he told ITV News. I’m not sure about this strange ticketing thing that’s going on. They should put a price on tickets and stick to it.” In the same interview, he said that a Pink Floyd reunion is unlikely because the band has only “three people left and we’re not talking”.