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In a statement about Macklemore being dropped from his US stadium tour for making pro-Palestinian comments, Ed Sheeran defended his own publicly apolitical stance: “If we only ever focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change. There are different approaches to being an advocate for change.”
Every other musician involved with the tour – support acts Finneas (Billie Eilish’s brother), Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish songwriter Aaron Rowe, plus Sheeran’s Irish backing band, Beoga – has made their approach to advocating for change clear, pulling out of the remaining dates to protest against the censorship of Macklemore and to express support for the Palestinian people.
In a statement released yesterday, Sheeran stressed that it wasn’t his decision to remove Macklemore, who called for a free Palestine on stage at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey last week. “I am not complicit,” Sheeran wrote. Macklemore (who in 2014 had to apologise after being accused of perpetuating antisemitic stereotypes with an onstage costume) wrote that his removal from the tour was organised by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium outside Boston, where Sheeran’s Loop tour is due to play in late September.
Kraft confirmed he barred Macklemore from opening for Sheeran at the Gillette Stadium, but did not respond to claims he organised the boycott by the other venues. (In a statement he said his decision was “not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf” but that such advocacy “should not obscure the responsibility of Hamas”.)
Sheeran explained that he doesn’t use his platform for politics in order to be “a place of safety and sanctuary, to maintain diplomacy and keep conversations open”. Though this isn’t accurate: he performed at the Concert for Ukraine in 2022, signed an open letter to Theresa May about Brexit, endorsed Jeremy Corbyn and supported the equality act in the US.
Either way, the consequences of his apolitical stance have proven beyond doubt that there is no such thing as a neutral position, especially when you’re operating in a political culture that rarely obstructs corporate overreach. Kraft is friends with Trump and is a major donor to Israel: Netanyahu said at a 2019 awards ceremony honouring Kraft that “Israel does not have a more loyal friend”.
The decisive actions of every other musician on the tour have made a mockery of Sheeran claiming to be powerless in this situation. In his statement, Sheeran wrote that he would never “let down the fans who had made plans” by cancelling shows, “nor would I abandon the touring crew and the other support acts and musicians who rely on me for work and to make a living”. What might initially appear as a sign of solidarity – not inconveniencing fans, not leaving other artists and crew out of pocket – has been upended by a group of artists who understand that losing financial and professional opportunities and creating inconvenience is precisely what it takes to show backbone and stand against genocide and billionaires crushing free speech.
Macklemore’s speech in New Jersey introduced his 2024 song Hind’s Hall, which castigates censorship of protest against Israel’s genocide in Palestine, particularly the student encampment at Columbia University in New York, and is named after Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces. “What you willin’ to risk?” he asked in the song. “What you willin’ to give?” Many musicians and actors who have spoken out against Israel’s actions in Gaza have talked about losing work as a result: Susan Sarandon said last week at the Venice film festival that she has had acting gigs taken away; Irish pop star CMAT said a lucrative beauty contract was withdrawn; Swedish star Zara Larsson said she was dropped from brand deals and awards shows.
That hasn’t stopped them and other figures from continuing to speak out, putting moral imperative above personal gain, and recognising that any such “loss” bears no relation to what is happening to human life and habitat in Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive is estimated to have led to a death toll of 70,000. Dublin songwriter Aaron Rowe, by far the smallest support act on Sheeran’s tour and thus the one with the most to lose, thanked him for the life-changing opportunity. “But as Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation,” his statement continued. “I need to be true to myself and my ancestors who resisted colonisation, and fought for a freedom that I enjoy today in Ireland.”
Sheeran and countless others take the line that pop culture should be somewhere fans can go to escape politics. “I do understand that for a lot of people, they just want to leave politics aside for a bit and be able to enjoy the music,” culture secretary Lisa Nandy said of the Sheeran situation on LBC this morning. But the fact that most right-wing politicians also take that view indicates the fact that they see pop cultural figures, with their largely left-leaning views and huge reach among young people, as a genuine threat best silenced.
As Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said yesterday, this isn’t just about the musicians on Sheeran’s tour, but “how just a handful of stadium owners can prevent [discussion of] an entire massive issue, in this case, the genocide in Gaza”. Prominent figures who go along with that view and deny the power of their voice allow these billion-dollar corporations to rob us of our rights step by step until one day there is nothing left. “We need to be very clear about how dangerous a precedent this is,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
At worst, Sheeran – who has always been open about his commercially minded approach to pop – looks like a corporate shill; at best, wilfully naive. Sheeran loves to dabble in the music of other cultures to present a toothless pan-global vision of togetherness lifted from the latter-day Coldplay playbook. But you can’t play with the aesthetics of global music without also being willing to engage in the lived reality of those cultures.
“Those who have been to one of my shows will know that they are about unity, joy, escapism, love and a place for everyone to feel welcome,” Sheeran wrote in his statement. Just as long as they shut up and sing: Sheeran’s inaction and humiliation at the hands of his principled supporting musicians have irrevocably compromised a position that’s no longer fit for purpose, if it ever was.
