Roger Waters—predictably—got there first. The uncomfortably dumb former Pink Floyd singer took a break from his usual anti-Semitic antics last weekend to instead lay into Donald Trump. Closing out the Desert Trip festival in Indio, California, on Sunday night, Surrey-born Waters branded the presidential candidate an “ignorant, racist, sexist pig” before some 75,000 fans. (Waters already boycotts Israel and refuses to play there—perhaps if Trump wins, one salutary impact would be a similar boycott of the United States.)
Adele was next. At a gig in Washington, D.C. earlier this week, the British-born crooner asked, “Did anybody watch the debate last night? . . . I’m embarrassed for you.” (She wasn’t referring to Clinton’s performance.) Adele’s anti-Trump bona fides are already well-established, by the way. She went full Petty earlier this year and insisted that the GOP presidential candidate no longer play her music at his campaign events.
There’s nothing wrong, of course, with public performers—even foreigners—expressing their distaste for this or that political candidate. That’s absolutely their right. But what is striking is how unoriginal their criticism is—Trump, ignorant and sexist? You don’t say! That’s hardly the kind of world-changing insight that necessitates interrupting an expensive musical performance for. Indeed, one could take a look at any newspaper, social media site, or Internet comment section to see the exact same rhetoric.
Nor, by the way, were their statements particularly brave. I’m guessing that Waters’ and Adele’s remarks were relatively well received, given the fora they were delivered in. What would be truly brave would be for Bruce Springsteen to say the same kind of thing to his audiences.
