This month, pop singer Ed Sheeran dropped rapper Macklemore from his international concert tour in response to Macklemore’s vocal support of Palestine. Billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium where the tour was scheduled to play, initiated the ban and, according to Macklemore, rallied other stadium owners to follow suit.
Sheeran claimed the decision to drop Macklemore was not his, and insisted he was “not complicit.” Although U.N. experts and even Israeli human rights groups agree that Israel is committing genocide, Sheeran desperately attempted to take a neutral stance. He stated, “I have my personal views on the devastating conflict. Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn’t mean I don’t have them, and it doesn’t mean I don’t care.”
Macklemore countered this spineless rhetoric by stating, “There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed. When one side has the bombs and bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle.”
Many artists agreed with Macklemore, including all the other opening acts and supporting bands for the tour, who immediately dropped out of the concert lineup. Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga cited their country’s history, with Beoga posting, “We are Irish people who understand colonialism.” Rowe agreed, stating, “as Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation.” He added that he couldn’t, “stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up.”
Children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel also publicly criticized Sheeran, posting that despite his claims of steadfast political neutrality, Sheeran was the headliner for a Ukraine benefit concert in 2022, a war in which he apparently had no problem picking a side.
His attempt to stay neutral in this conflict has not been without consequences for Sheeran, who lost 200,000 Instagram followers and whose concert ticket prices have plunged.
Macklemore donated his $1 million in tour earnings to Palestinian aid groups, and was followed by Sheeran and Kraft, who attempted to diffuse the escalating public outcry by donating $2 million each to unspecified “aid in the region.”
But Ed Sheeran and Robert Kraft could not buy their way out of the bad publicity, and Macklemore acknowledged the root of the problem by stating, “aid alone cannot address the conditions that make it necessary. This is a manmade injustice, and I believe it requires immediate political change.”
The conditions that make aid necessary in Palestine are only getting worse. While this celebrity conflict was playing out in social media, the Trump administration moved forward with plans for a $2.8 billion sale of heavy bombs to Israel. Regardless of which artists are performing and who has the most “likes” on Instagram, multi-ton weapons are being prepared right now with our tax dollars to continue the genocide of the Palestinian people.
We support artists like Macklemore who take a stand and use their platform to speak up for those who are silenced. The immediate political change that he calls for is possible, and can only come through us, standing up together to take power and change society.
