Roger Waters says he turned down "huge" Facebook offer to use 'Another Brick in the Wall'
15 June 2021, 12:26 | Updated: 15 June 2021, 12:33
"This is an insidious movement of them to take over absolutely everything," Roger Waters says.
Roger Waters has claimed that he turned down a "huge" amount of money from Facebook to use 'Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)' to advertise Instagram.
The ex-Pink Floyd star made the comments at a press conference in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Mexico City newspaper La Jornada reports.
Video of the event shows Waters pulling out a printout of "a missive from Mark Zuckerberg to me" apparently emailed on the morning of June 10.
¡Vete a la chingada!: Roger Waters a Zuckerberg
"It's a request for the rights to use my song 'Another Brick in the Wall 2 in the making of a film to promote Instagram," Waters said.
"It arrived this morning, with an offer for a huge, huge amount of money,” Waters said.
"And the answer is, ‘F*** You. No f***in’ way."
He added: "I only mention that because this is an insidious movement of them to take over absolutely everything.
"Those of us who do have any power, and I do have a little bit, in terms of the control of the publishing of my songs I do anyway – I will not be a party to this bulls**t, Zuckerberg."
Waters then read directly from the offer: "We want to thank you for considering this project.
"We feel that the core sentiment of this song is still so prevalent and so necessary today, which speaks to how timeless the work is.
Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall, Part Two (Official Music Video)
"And yet, they want to use it to make Facebook and Instagram even bigger and more powerful than it already is so that it can continue to censor all of us in this room."
Waters went on to reveal that Zuckerberg apparently features in his "new rock 'n' roll show", before decrying him as a "little prick" and "one of the most powerful idiots in the world".
Read more: Music news from Gold
Sources at Facebook told Gold that while Facebook's agency did make contact with Waters, no details were discussed – including how much money would be involved in any deal.
They added that they always respected the decisions of artists about having their music used in adverts.
Written by Waters, 'Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)' featured on Pink Floyd's 1979 album The Wall.
It was a rare UK single for the band that ended up topping both the official UK chart and the US Billboard 100.
