Pink Floyd Speaks Out Against White Helmets - Hollywood Will Never be as Cool as Old Rock Group

The authors of the staged attack in Douma, Syria, the so-called "White Helmets" took a serious blow to their reputation. It came from an unexpected source. Western celebrities have always been on their side a priori. Darya Kozlova will tell us what happened. For the past two years, the White Helmets have been winning over Hollywood. One after another, American celebrities would show their interest in the Syrian war, wrote about the injured children, and showed their support for the organization. George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, and Coldplay are among the White Helmets' supporters. Andrey Kolyadin, political scientist: "They use these celebrities to influence thousands and even millions of their supporters. They do it to raise the profile for what they do, and to increase the credibility of their actions. They always attract the most famous leaders of public opinion. Their presence ensures that this organization is serious, important, and worth listening to". However, in the case of Pink Floyd's founder, the tried-and-true recruitment plan crashed. After studying the White Helmets' dossier, Waters decided to address his fans right from the stage in Barcelona. Roger Waters: "I think the White Helmets are a fake organization. They only exist to create propaganda and fakes for the Islamists. If we believe the propaganda they and those like them promote, we'll encourage our government to keep dropping bombs on Syria". The audience's reaction speaks for itself. But, after such a political statement, online users asked themselves a question. What does the musician have to do with the White Helmets? A lot, as it turned out. Waters gave all his correspondence with their leader to a journalist, Max Blumenthal. He studies this organization's non-humanitarian activities. Max Blumenthal, a journalist: "The White Helmets are operating on the ground with Al-Qaeda representatives and their followers. For the first time, a celebrity has confirmed on stage what we've been saying for a long time. Now, they have nothing to respond with. They can't say it's Kremlin's propaganda again." The White Helmets contacted Waters 2 years ago for the first time. In 2016, they tried to invite him to a dinner hosted by the Saudi-British billionaire, Hani Farsi. He's one of the sponsors of the Syria Campaign, a PR agency which crafts the White Helmets' image. They didn't succeed. Vladimir Kravtsov, political scientist: "I know this isn't the first time the White Helmets had suggested something like this to a celebrity in an attempt to sway public opinion in their favor. This only works on a specific target audience. But, this time, the White Helmets went for a large-scale local project". It's true that Waters' opinion has great value. He's not just a musician, he's also a famous political activist. This campaigner for the rights of people of color has spoken about the situation in the Middle Eastern many times. So, 1.5 years later, the White Helmets contacted him again a few days before that very concert in Barcelona. Pascal Henrion, a French journalist, asked for a chance to speak at the concert. Roger Waters: "His name is Pascal, he wanted to come on stage and give a speech about Douma and Eastern Ghouta, where he believes Bashar Al-Assad had used chemical weapons. But, it's just one man's opinion, and I don't think he's right". Waters also mentioned his Hollywood colleagues who openly supported the White Helmets. He urged them to thoroughly study the dossiers of such organizations from now on, and obviously to stop believing videos they see on social networks. Darya Kozlova, Olga Alvukhina, Vesti.