“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.
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.
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
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 a slur to “hurt feelings“, then they can claim “hurt feelings“ to silence your speech. not only is this a strawman argument, 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.
The same rhetorical trick is used to equate criticism of Israel to “antisemitism“. And that has worked for decades, but not anymore.
Beware
Those 4 words are going to haunt him the rest of his life, rightly so. I hope they define his legacy.
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.”
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a billionaire with a long history of donating to pro-Israel causes, took credit for blackballing Macklemore on Monday, describing the rapper’s Palestine tributes as “hate speech.”
It’s rich that a billionaire gets to lecture others about morality considering that there are no ethical billionaires.
there’s no ethical billionaires
NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE! Looks like someone forgot about Phil Philbertson
We live in a reality where saying you want people to live and be free is considered hate… Morality and ethics can’t come to the phone right now, they’re dead.
What’s crazy is how everyone wants to blame an aging popstar instead of the billionaire NFL owners who are able to cancel stadium shows at stadiums taxpayers paid for…
Like, everyone involved said it’s Bob Kraft who made the decision, but no one reads past a fucking headline.
No one is blaming him, we’re calling him a cowardly, unethical, greedy little birch. He could have taken a small financial hit that would have come back and rewarded him with huge public support by simply saying “I don’t agree with or support this decision”, and fingers could then only be pointed at Kraft.
He decided the money is worth pointing the fingers directly at him, he deserves the attention he’s getting. It’s crazy that you think we should let it slide.
Did you read past the headline where Sheeran refused to push back against the genocide supporter?
You’re not wrong, but I also don’t think anyone expects zionist billionaire bastards to not behave like zionist billionaire bastards. People expected Ed Sheeran to do the right thing, and they were let down by his spinelessness.
You’re not wrong either, but the point your parent was making is everyone is talking about Sheeran and nobody is talking about Kraft.
That’s intended. Kraft can (and probably will) get off fairly scot-free from this whole debacle, because he is much more able to control the narrative.
Sheeran is just the useful idiot he threw under the bus. He could (and should) have handled it better so far, but it’s ultimately him that stands to get cancelled…not Kraft, and certainly not the Patriots.
It’s not often we get a chance to tell a billionaire to go fuck themself. This was one of those rare chances and Sheeran fumbled the ball.
We have to be ready for those chances
We’re not far off from seizing assets of billionaires…
And the easiest place to get people to start, is the sports stadiums people already paid for.
It would drastically drive down not just ticket prices but also everything inside. Everyone would get on board for that, and when it works, people will be open to more.
Is it guaranteed? Obviously not
But what the fuck is the point of making this about an aging popstar?
If he never played another concert what would that actually solve?
We know he’s evil though. For evil to triumph, good people must do nothing.
deleted by creator
Isn’t that the guy Putin stole the NFL ring from? I can’t imagine why we shouldn’t respect his political wishes. /s
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.
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?
Let them fucking cancel the shows then. Damn Ed, grow a fucking spine.
In an Instagram post, Sheeran confirmed that Kraft had indeed rallied other NFL stadium owners to give an ultimatum that their shows would be canceled unless Macklemore was dropped. Sheeran said the decision ultimately did not belong to him, but to the Messina Touring Group, which is promoting the tour.
The decision absolutely belongs to you as long as you’re able to physically stop yourself from performing.
“I’m not complicit in trying to take political pressure off Israel so they could continue their genocide”.
Oh but you are Ed, you absolutely are. Just as Israel has killed people for speaking out about what they’re doing - so you tried to help what they’re doing.
You are totally complicit in trying to make it easier for them, by trying to ease their PR, their freedom from pressure to do otherwise.
P.S If you scroll the Jordan Peterson sub on Reddit you can find the pro-Israel position/propaganda pretty easily. A lot of those campaigns are funded via the right and alt-right. People like Larry Ellison and Ben Shapiro just decided Ed Sheeran is worth listening to.
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
My Unintentional Boycott grows stonger all the time! Nevermore shall I listen to Fred Sheery. . . uh . . Or, whatever.
don’t forget about the fuckers from the Kraft group
People should also boycott the NFL, NBA and MLS. These stadium owners and team owners are all pro-genocide.
