British musician Bryan Ferry, founder and lead vocalist of the art-rock group Roxy Music, is known for his smooth visual and vocal style. His clumsy tongue, however, has recently been giving the 1970s icon headaches: In a March interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Ferry professed admiration for the Nazi aesthetic. “My God, the Nazis knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves,” he said in an interview with the paper. “Leni Riefenstahl’s movies and Albert Speer’s buildings and the mass parades and the flags — just amazing. Really beautiful.”

Deeply upset by the resulting controversy, Ferry insisted that his comments were about art and not politics. “Like all sane people,” Ferry wrote on his Web site, “I find the politics of fascism and Nazism to be abhorrent, and I deeply apologize to anyone who was unintentionally hurt by the way my comments were misrepresented in the media.”

In the July 20 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Ferry elaborated further. “I’ve embraced two cultures in my career: black American music and American Jewish culture, which produced George Gershwin and Kurt Weill,” he said. “The idea that I’m anti-Semitic is ludicrous!” Nevertheless, British retail giant Marks and Spencer, co-founded by Polish Jew Michael Marks, has dropped the 61-year-old singer from the advertising campaign for its Autograph line.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount