Nick Cave has responded to the backlash he has received over his ongoing refusal to boycott Israel, as he criticised Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters for what he called a “deeply damaging” attitude.
The Australian musician, 66, released his latest album Wild God with the Bad Seeds today (Friday 30 August), on which he explores themes of doubt and faith.
In a new interview, Cave doubled down on his commitment to defending “free thought” and freedom of expression, while addressing the ongoing row over a cultural boycott of Israel amid its war on Gaza.
“I just feel – and I’m no friend of the government of Israel – but I just feel on some level that I find it difficult to come to terms with using my music in order to punish ordinary people because of the acts of their government. It sort of comes down to that, to some degree,” he told the Reason podcast in an episode released on 28 August.
These are different people,” he continued, discussing some of the high-profile figures to support a cultural boycott. “Brian Eno is a different kettle of fish to Roger Waters, [who] I think is deeply damaging to the boycott movement. It’s embarrassing. Brian Eno is a different character, he’s a thoughtful individual.”
Waters, 80, has supported the boycott movement since around 2011. Five years earlier, he came under pressure from Palestinians to cancel a planned concert in Tel Aviv, stating at the time that he was “happy to play to anybody who believes in peace. I don’t discriminate between any of my fans, wherever they live. Being an Israeli does not disbar from being a human being.”
In 2018, Waters and Eno were among the high–profile figures calling for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted in Tel Aviv that year, as they reaffirmed their support for the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions movement (BDS).
Cave then published an open letter to Eno, writing that he did not accept his decision to play in the country would suggest “any kind of tacit support for that government’s politics. Nor do I condone the atrocities that you have described; nor am I ignorant of them.”
In January, Waters claimed he was “fired” by his publishing company, BMG, over his inflammatory remarks about Israel last year.
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