B’nai B’rith rips MLB support of Roger Waters tour

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball’s involvement in the sale of tickets for Roger Waters’ North American tour has been criticized by the leadership of the Jewish advocacy organization B’nai B’rith International.

Tickets went on sale this week for Waters’ “This is Not a Drill” tour, which is slated to start July 8 in Pittsburgh and end Oct. 3 in Dallas. MLB.com is among the organizations sponsoring ticket presales.

B’nai B’rith President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin wrote a letter to baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred they released Thursday.

“Waters is an avowed anti-Semite whose views on Jews and Israel far exceed the boundaries of civil discourse,” they wrote, adding they were “saddened and outraged that baseball … would use its online resources to publicize an individual with an alarming history of anti-Semitic hatred. We call on MLB to cease providing Roger Waters a platform.”

MLB said the promotion was part of an ad buy by AEG/Concerts West for multiple concert tours and that the league will respond to B’nai B’rith privately. AEG and Waters’ spokeswoman, Fran Curtis, did not immediately return requests for comment.

Colorado baker who refused cake for gay couple gets book deal

NEW YORK — The Colorado baker whose refusal to design a wedding cake for a gay couple led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling and made him a conservative hero now has a book deal. Jack Phillips’ memoir, currently untitled, will be released this summer by Salem Books Publishing. Salem Books is a Christian evangelical imprint that calls the book “a firsthand account of his experience on the front lines” of a cultural battle between religious and secular forces.