Ed Sheeran vs the Rest
The David Vance BriefingRead More
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, you will have seen the controversy engulfing Ed Sheeran and his current American tour.
And all because of a man called Macklemore.
I admit that until this row erupted, I had never even heard of Macklemore! Had you?
It seems he is an American rapper and was one of the support acts on Sheeran’s enormous “Loop Tour” and it seems he decided to use his appearance at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium to make his political views very clear.
He told the audience “Free Palestine” and spoke about Gaza and the West Bank.
That’s the source of all the controversy.
What happened next is where the thing takes off. Several venues subsequently made it clear that they would not stage the concerts if Macklemore remained on the bill. The tour promoter, Messina Touring Group, promptly removed him from the remaining US dates. Ed Sheeran responded by insisting that this was the promoter’s decision rather than his, and says he tried unsuccessfully to find a solution.
You might have thought that would be the end of it. Not a bit of it.
You see all the other support acts started walking out. Again, I have never heard of ANY of them!
Aaron Rowe withdrew. Then Beoga. Then Lukas Graham. Then Finneas. ????
Beoga is an interesting withdrawal because they weren’t merely supporting Sheeran; they were also serving as his touring band. So suddenly Sheeran found himself at the centre of an increasingly bitter political storm, with the people around him abandoning the tour in solidarity with Macklemore.
My question is what exactly has Ed Sheeran done!
He hasn’t attacked Palestinians. He hasn’t become a spokesman for the Israeli government. In fact, he is on record saying that he is appalled by the suffering caused by the conflict. I think that is probably genuine.
His apparent crime is that he doesn’t want his concerts turned into political rallies.
There is an assumption within the entertainment industry that artists must publicly subscribe to whatever is the current thing. And if they don’t, well, silence itself becomes evidence against them.
You simply aren’t allowed to say:
I’m a musician. I’ve got thousands of people coming to hear my music.
I’d rather leave politics outside.
Apparently that isn’t good enough.
Sheeran says he wanted his shows to remain “neutral” and welcoming, while also making clear that he has personal views on what is happening in the Middle East. Macklemore takes the opposite position: for him, remaining neutral on Palestine is itself unacceptable. That’s the real argument here.
Does being a musician oblige you to become a political activist?
I don’t think it does. Nor do I think it should!
There’s also the surreal spectacle of the minor supporting acts apparently believing that their absence presents an existential crisis for Ed Sheeran.
I can fully understand the logistical headaches their withdrawal can cause. But let’s retain a little perspective.
People buying tickets for an Ed Sheeran stadium concert are principally buying tickets to see Ed Sheeran. After all, he’s one of the biggest recording artists on the planet.
I doubt huge numbers of ticket holders were sitting at home thinking;
I can’t wait to see Ed — but only if Macklemore is there too.
Despite this, the pressure on Sheeran keeps mounting. Some campaigners are demanding further action, while other musicians have presented their withdrawal as a matter of principle. Greta Thunberg even piled in!
Meanwhile, the Irish media had something to say;
Macklemore himself has now pledged $1 million from his expected tour earnings to “Palestinian aid organisations and challenged businessman Robert Kraft — one of the venue owners involved in the dispute — to match it. Kraft has reportedly agreed.
So this has become much bigger than a row between two musicians.
It has become another front in the battle over whether every part of our cultural life has to become political.
Films. Sport. Universities. Awards ceremonies. Music festivals.
And now stadium concerts.
Sometimes people just want to listen to music. I am one of them. I don’t want a political lecture. Just play the songs! Perhaps that is naive but it’s how I feel.
That doesn’t mean artists should be forbidden from expressing political opinions. But if you want to do that, do it in the songs!
Macklemore is perfectly entitled to support the Palestinian cause. That said, he does seem to be hostile to Jewish people. Here he is on-stage cosplaying as a Jew.
Other musicians are perfectly entitled to agree with him. But surely Ed Sheeran is equally entitled to say that he doesn’t want his own tour consumed by an argument about the Middle East? If Macklemore wants to make his concerts political, that’s his choice.
If Ed Sheeran wants his concerts to be about Ed Sheeran’s music, that should be his choice too.
The most depressing feature of this whole affair is that neutrality itself is increasingly treated as some sort of moral failing. You MUST pick a side and you must demonstrate your allegiance.
Or else.
I hope Sheeran simply plays on. The audience can then decide whether they still want to turn up. And unlike the increasingly politicised music industry, perhaps they might even be allowed to make that decision for themselves?
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