A few days ago, I posted about Roger Waters’ rant against the University of Pennsylvania for not allowing him to attend in person a panel discussion for the Palestine Writes Literature Festival. He claimed:
“I was supposed to be taking part in a panel in a couple hours time this afternoon, but I’ve been told I’m not allowed into the Irving Arena because they made arrangements for me to attend the panel via Zoom.”
“And the fact that I came here all the way to be present, because I care deeply about the issues that are being discussed, apparently cuts no ice with campus police or whoever it is.”
While Waters’ made it sound like the plan was for him to attend in person and he was told last minute this would no longer be the case, once again the truth is something else.
Waters joined the panel virtually from a small room in the Philadelphia International Airport, though the organizers left a chair open for him on stage — along with another empty chair for journalist Gary Younge, who said that his visa was revoked without cause on the day of his flight to Philadelphia. After flying in from the United Kingdom, Waters said that he was informed that the University would not let him attend the event in person.
In response to a request for comment, a University spokesperson told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn asked “both the organizers and Mr. Waters’ management to honor the understanding from the beginning that he would not be appearing in person.”
“Organizers of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival indicated from the beginning, and confirmed multiple times, that Mr. Waters would be participating in the event virtually,” the University spokesperson wrote. “On Wednesday, September 20, less than 48 hours before the start of the event, the organizers communicated the change to in-person attendance to the University Life Space & Events team.”
So either Waters is lying, the Palestine Writes organizers lied to him, or they decided together to lie about it to the public.
Either way, liars be lying.
