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What he fails to realize (apparently), is that the moment Macklemore did that, and the stadium owner made him make a choice, he no longer had the luxury of being apolitical. The act of complying is a choice and taking a side. This is especially true for a guy like him who almost certainly has fuck you money and can take the hit.
You could excuse a person who can’t afford to lose their livelihood (we are all trying to survive). But him? Boy oh boy did he choose a side.
Yup, this guy did not meet the moment at all by standing up for free speech against rich oligarchs. Maybe he truly believes his “boths sides” BS, lord knows there’s plenty out there, but damn when you can’t even muster a defense for your friend of 13 years when like you said, he’s got fuck you money. That combined with the BS apolitical both sides thing, says a whole ton.
I truly hope he finds out.
Honestly I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. In some interviews he admits he’s a luddite. One time he said he hates social media and emails and it’s hard for his staff to get a hold of him. I could 100% believe that his media people bungled this up and he is completely clueless about this and probably all of world politics all while sitting in an ivory tower, strumming out another derivative love song.
He should probably ask around or do some research before publicly both-sidesing a genocide then
Oh come on it is on regular news. The guy would have to be a clueless moron to not have any hint of an idea of whwtnis going on.
Honestly, the critic response in the article is so well-put, I don’t have anything to add. Just posting it here in the hopes it’s not missed:
Media and cultural critic Kaivan Shroff argued in Zeteo that Sheeran was not actually acting apolitically as he claimed, but rather “letting a pro-Israel billionaire choose his politics for him.”
“Kraft imposed a political condition on his tour, and then Sheeran enforced it,” Shroff wrote. “He did not remain above the dispute; he allowed the billionaire who owned the building to resolve it for him.”
“That is what the language of being ‘apolitical’ conceals,” he continued. “It treats the status quo as neutral and resistance to it as political. Kraft can decide that support for Palestinian freedom is beyond the boundaries of acceptable speech; venue owners can threaten a tour; corporate affiliates can calculate the financial exposure and draw their lines in the sand. None of that is described as activism. Politics supposedly only enters the room when Macklemore says those two words onstage.”
Shroff wrote that the saga demonstrated “how the ultrawealthy exercise political power without accepting political responsibility.”
“They translate an ideological demand into a business necessity, then leave everyone beneath them to describe compliance as unavoidable,” he said. “Kraft did not have to answer Macklemore’s argument about Gaza or persuade an audience that saying ‘Free Palestine’ constituted hate. He could simply threaten the tour instead. Once the money was put in jeopardy, all of a sudden, the unacceptable viewpoint disappeared.”
What amazes me is that hidden in a conversation like this is the implication that a billionaire’s feelings being hurt should have any weight on anything.
Hate speech is calls to violence, not someone being upset by your opinion.
It’s the same old culture war bullshit.
The rhetorical framing is careful and deliberate:
If they can reduce any slur to “hurt feelings“, then they can claim “hurt feelings“ to silence your speech, regardless of how ridiculous and insubstantial the claim may be. not only is this a strawman argument and gaslighting, but it very conveniently forces most people to accept the faulty logic without question.
And with that rhetorical trick, they can equate “fuck you fa**ots” with “genocide is bad“ as equally offensive. this is what fascists do. It’s one of the things they are best at: mass manipulation through propaganda.
The same rhetorical trick is used to equate criticism of Israel to “antisemitism“. And that has worked for decades, but not so much not anymore. it turns out that when you call literally everything you don’t like “antisemitism”, it tends to dull the blade a bit.
Beware
“I am not complicit” is the new “I was just following orders”. Neither are credible defenses.
I was informed that this stance was based on how Macklemore conveyed part of his message during his performance, rather than on everything that was said.
This Instagram comment of his bugs me. This is the kind of shit that gets said to silence people. He can’t tell you specifically what it is that was wrong, just a general feeling of “how it was conveyed”.
Thank God Sheeren was informed of this so he can go on with his life without worrying about doing the right thing.
This is exactly the kind of shit MLK was talking about. That the moderate was worse than the KKK because the moderate says “I agree with your goal but not your methods of direct action.” Because he believes he can set a timetable for another man’s freedom while they wait for a more convenient time.
That’s all paraphrased, the actual quote is much more eloquent.
I very much got “racist gaslighting” vibes
When George Floyd was murdered and people were protesting and using his name as a call to action, there were so many comments I read online that said something like, “I agree with your message in general, but you shouldn’t be using George Floyd for this cause he was such a shitty person.”
It was some backhanded way of saying, I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I also don’t want anyyhing to change.
“First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ‘more convenient season.’ Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
It’s a weasle-word-way for the promoter to say “you can’t speak out against genocide”
Which is a weasle-word-way to say “you can’t speak out”.
Which is a weasle-word-way to say “you can’t speak”.
Ed Sheeran is just too dumb to realize it. That’s my read. He’s a great performer with a pretty face and not a whole hell of a lot behind it (aside for an uncanny ability to mix 4 chords with words and rhythm).
The role of musicians and celebrities should be to speak out about this type of shit. Fuck. They have the podium, they have the privilege.
The reason why we are in this shit is because promotors/sponsors/owners of, well, everything and everyone, have done a damn good job of convincing everyone that they can’t speak.
And then they hand him a microphone, and they have to decide…can they speak? Or do they believe that they can’t?
Like tieing up an elephant to a wooden stake.
I think he’s plenty smart, but he runs one of the highest grossing tours of all time and he needs the billionaires on his side so he can keep making that money.
He’s plenty rich already, what he needs more for?
How else will he become a billionaire himself so he can enjoy the finer things in life? Like asian message parlors, trips to Israel and locally sourced children…
So a quick google search tells me his net worth is estimated at 400 million dollars. Do those other things only unlock once you hit 1 billion? What do millionaires get?
Smart AND greedy
This is how so, so, so many of them are… They don’t want to talk about “politics”.
These people were in Nazi Germany, everyone. And you know what? They never got any blowback, for the most part.
They just said “no thanks” when, at the same time, people were shoved into ovens. No thanks, they aren’t political. They don’t want to talk about politics.
No thanks. They don’t want to pick a side.
See: Zone of Interest
“I am appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine,” Sheeran said. “The suffering and pain caused on both sides is a human tragedy. There are too many wars across the world causing immeasurable pain, none of which should be tolerated.”
So his stance is please stop fighting, regardless of who the aggressor is.
I wonder if he also wants the war in Ukraine to end by giving Russia some land.
I don’t buy it.
There’s no possible way he could be this isolated from the facts of the issue, given Macklemore’s statements about his relationship with Ed.
At some point you either see Palestinians as people, or you see them as less than people.
Those are the only positions that “make sense” in this “conflict”. ‘Please stop fighting’ and ‘both sides’ are essentially just:
“The Palestinians brought this on themselves by not rolling over and submitting to Israel’s apartheid rape state, plus they’re brown, plus my money and success are more important than publicly opposing genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
This take is not a-political, it’s a-moral. “Both sides” is a capitulation to the oppressor. “Both sides” when you’re rich and you have that much influence is criminal negligence.
He’s watching a child drown because he doesn’t want to get his clothes wet.
On both sides? Hiw much pain and suffering has there been on Israel’s side lately? The conflict has been extremely one-sided.
He is a spineless fascist who likes sucking billionaires dick.
So with all the hate online for billionaires when people actually going to make a stand and stop supporting them.
I mean the pain caused is kind of lopsided. One side is cssuing wwy more pain then the other and has for decades.
Those 4 words are going to haunt him the rest of his life, rightly so. I hope they define his legacy.
Sheeran chose money over solidarity. I can call him whatever i want and he’ll never read any of this. His fellow musicians will 100% remember this for the rest of their lives. All people gotta do is stop going to anything he’s involved in. Unsubscribe from anything he’s involved in. Lets see who he drags down with him and who tells him to get fucked.
They won’t though. And this well just be a blip.
Being against genocide is not political, its basic morality and human dignity.
A painless and enjoyable way of showing support for Maclemore’s stand is to stream Macklemore on your preferred streaming platform all day. If we all do that at least he will get some income and the numbers can help to show the world is on the same anti genocidal wavelength
He wouldn’t need a sheeran if he wasn’t a fucking sheep.
There are so many ppl in power supporting Israel in tangible, helping kill babies sort of ways, that Ed Sheeran getting the stick is kind of stupid. People just punch whoever is closest cuz they can’t do shit about any of the real problem ppl
There’s also no reason he shouldn’t get the stick, he is afterall a spineless coward.
It’s so strange to me when Ed and others like him do this. He literally would face no real consequence for just being a decent human being. Absolute worst case, he has to play smaller venues from now on. So what, he might miss out on some cash because of that, would he ever even notice? No he wouldn’t, so why act this way?
Because greed isn’t just a billionaire’s problem
Yeah but those other people are boring.
I’m only half joking. For many people their exposure to things is through pop culture. I bet for a lot of people in the audience and for the fans, this episode has made them look into what is happening more closely. It’s a very big deal.
At least he can call his next album “Divide 2”
Track list: “Shape of Netanyahu” “Gaza Girl”
Ed is a musician. I would not expect perfect diplomacy from any musician. His job is to please his audience and I suspect he doesn’t quite know what that is politically. He appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place. I doubt he has any hard line political position and simply tries to balance demands from his fans and management while wishing he could just keep plucking strings.
It’s not a musician’s job to please the audience, it’s their job to please their own sense of aesthetics and integrity.
Someone trying to please the audience is an entertainer, who is just doing a job.
A musician is an entertainer. The job is to make entertaining music for an audience that wants to be pleased musically.
No, a musician is an artist. An entertainer is someone who entertains.
When a musician finds an audience, it is because THEY are entertained by the artist’s art, not because they are trying to be entertaining.
If they are, that would make them an entertainer.
Ed is all of that.
