Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)
“The Ed Sheeran debacle will be seen as a turning point in pop culture complicity” with Israel, said one Palestinian-American writer, who described it as “a clear ‘South Africa moment.’”
Singer Ed Sheeran hoped to sidestep controversy by letting rapper Macklemore be removed from his tour over his pro-Palestine remarks. Instead, he’s sparked what one writer said could be a “turning point” for how pop culture engages on the issue of Israel and Palestine.
Sheeran responded to the backlash on Tuesday by claiming he was helpless to stop Macklemore’s ouster, which followed the intervention of the pro-Israel New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who rallied other NFL venue owners to bar Sheeran’s Loop Tour if the “Thrift Shop” rapper continued to perform.
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Pro-Israel groups petitioned for Macklemore to be removed from the tour after a performance earlier this month in which he said, “Free Palestine,” and performed his song “Hind’s Hall.” The song refers to anti-Israel protests at Columbia University in 2024 and is dedicated to the 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces. She was one of more than 20,000 children who have been killed as part of Israel’s military campaign there, according to a UN commission.
But the other four openers said they would not abide what they viewed as elites’ political censorship of an artist speaking out against what human rights groups have described as a genocide in Gaza and an occupation of the West Bank that is considered illegal under international law.
Each one of the artists announced on Tuesday that they would no longer tour with Sheeran.
“Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” said the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Finneas, who has vocally supported the plight of Palestinians for several years. “I stand with Palestine and its people.”
The Irish singer Aaron Rowe likewise withdrew from his upcoming shows with Sheeran, though he acknowledged he did not “take the decision lightly.”
“Ed has been a friend to me and has changed my life. I could never thank him enough for this,” Rowe wrote on Instagram. “But as Irish people, we know all too well about genocide, forced famine, and violent occupation.”
“I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide and who highlight the savage murder of children,” he continued. “I would lose all respect for myself to carry on as normal.”
The Danish pop band Lukas Graham also dropped from the tour, with frontman Lukas Forchhammer writing that artists “should be able to speak about war, about civilians being killed, about children who deserve to grow up. Wherever they live. Whatever flag flies over them.”
Forchhammer addressed Kraft, a multibillionaire, who gloated after the fact about having Macklemore blackballed and denounced his expressions of support for Palestinians as “hate speech.”
“Money doesn’t give you the right to own the conversation,” Forchhammer wrote. “Nobody’s bank balance should decide who gets to speak or which suffering we’re allowed to acknowledge.”
The Irish folk group Beoga—which helped to found the Irish Artist for Palestine Movement—was even more direct, calling out Kraft’s extensive history of donating to pro-Israel groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has spent over $100 million attempting to influence the current election cycle, and supporting efforts to punish those who boycott Israeli products.
“It’s important that everyone knows that the real enemy is the Zionist lobby. They have worked tirelessly to silence artists who want to speak freely about a genocide happening before our eyes, for fear of retribution,” Beoga wrote. “Research how much Robert Kraft has done to fight the [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] (BDS) movement. That will give you a sense of what we’ve all been up against.”
“Up the workers. Free Palestine,” the group’s message concluded.
The exodus of Sheeran’s openers came as momentum built behind a “boycott” of his music spearheaded by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, a group based in Ramallah in the West Bank, that helped to cofound the BDS movement.
The group called on Sheeran to “cancel his now compromised US tour” and said until then, artists, audience, and crew members should “boycott it.”
In response to Sheeran’s explanation that he prefers not to publicly take sides on controversial political issues despite having opinions, the group noted his estimated net worth of more than $500 million and his massive platform as one of the world’s most recognized musicians.
“As South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu famously said, ‘If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor,’” the group said. “Sheeran had an opportunity to take a stand in solidarity with Palestinians, like millions of other British and Irish citizens have done, and refuse to cave to the pressure… He has so far failed to meet this ethical duty. But it is not too late to reverse course.”
Some Western politicians have joined the backlash and amplified calls for a boycott.
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), considered a likely presidential candidate in 2028, told a reporter she’d be changing the radio station if Ed Sheeran’s music were to come on.
“When you see what Robert Kraft did to line up all the stadiums to censor speech in that one specific way, it’s become clear it’s not just about one music artist or two music artists,” AOC said. “This is about how just a handful of stadium owners and the elite can prevent an entire massive issue, in this case, the genocide in Gaza.”
“But it doesn’t stop there,” she continued. “It could be speaking out about AI. It could be speaking out about any issue, that you can now just get a handful of stadium owners to ensure that an entire person’s career can be jeopardized if they speak out about any issue.”
Zarah Sultana, a member of the UK Parliament and co-founder of the left-wing Your Party, added that the artists who left Sheeran’s tour are “on the right side of history.”
“At this rate, Ed Sheeran is going to end up with Boy George opening for him,” she joked on social media, referring to the singer who released a song this summer in support of Israel’s assault on Gaza. “No one deserves to be subjected to that.”
Backlash against Sheeran has expanded across the entertainment industry as well, with performers including the children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel and popular musicians Kehlani, Tones and I, Zara Larsson, PinkPantheress, and others rallying in support of Macklemore.
And as the music news site Consequence of Sound reported, even some of Sheeran’s hardcore fans are revolting. Three prominent Sheeran fan accounts on X, which boast nearly 50,000 followers put together, spoke in solidarity with Macklemore and encouraged Sheeran to use his platform to take a stand, with some vowing to stop covering his tour until he does.
“We hope that Ed can… reflect on everything that happened and understand that, in the face of certain injustices, remaining silent or trying not to choose a side is also a stance,” wrote the Brazilian account @EdSheeranBrCom, which has more than 45,000 followers.
Ali Abunimah, the Palestinian-American journalist who co-founded The Electronic Intifada, said in a social media post that he believed that “the Ed Sheeran debacle will be seen as a turning point in pop culture complicity” with Israel, which has seen public support in the US crater since 2023, to the point where Americans, especially younger ones, now say they sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis.
Likening it to the massive cultural boycott movement against apartheid during the 1980s, Abunimah said the cultural revolt against Sheeran was “a clear ‘South Africa moment.’”
Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).