Ed Sheeran’s tour has been in shambles this week after ousting tour opener Macklemore, who made pro-Palestinian remarks during a set. Following Macklemore’s pro-Palestinian comments, businessman Robert Kraft, whose Kraft Group owns Gillette Stadium, where one of Sheeran’s shows was set to take place, called for Macklemore to be kicked off the tour.
Sheeran has been adamant about taking a neutral stance regarding the ongoing genocide. He’s attempted to keep his celebrity and music amoral, because we all know art has been a famously apolitical and neutral territory when it comes to expressing points of view. Over the past couple of days, Sheeran’s other opening acts and backing band Beoga also dropped off the LOOP Tour in protest.
On Saturday, Sheeran continued his tour in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field. The show was pushed back two hours, since all his opening acts left the tour. He began the show with a speech that he read off a teleprompter. He then posted it to his social media.
Here’s a transcript of his speech:
This is not usually how I open a show, but before I play some songs tonight I hope it’s OK if I say a few words about this last week. I’m used to my music being criticized, and I’m always happy to take that because I’m lucky a lot of you like my stuff, and to be honest I’m surprised, I’m not surprised. It’s normal.
But this week the criticism was about something much more important. And I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so so sorry. I don’t want to disappoint fans, and I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.
My concerts have always been a safe space for everyone and that matters hugely to me. Honoring my commitment to my fans is also completely central to who I am, and that is why I’m here tonight on my own and continuing my current tour.
But I am deeply worried about the idea of venues pre-approving content of performers. This happens in so many places I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world.
Now, I want to address the question of where I stand in the situation in Israel and Palestine and whether my doing this concert here tonight implies where I stand. I’ve tried in my career not be a political commentator of any kind because I want my music and shows to be about unity not division, about humanity not politics.
But this is a humanitarian issue and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore. What happened in Israel at a … music festival on Oct. 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.
My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives and the systemic justice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.
I am already speaking to people across the spectrum to work out how to make a contribution that helps victims of these terrible times, and listening and learning because I do not know enough.
I honestly am so grateful that you’re here tonight with me.
This concert is still a place where everyone is welcome, and everyone here can stand beside people who have opposing views, and everyone here can stand by people that they don’t agree with on everything, but they can all agree I’m singing these songs.
And these songs are about love, hope and unity.
Protesters lined the streets outside the venue, chanting “Ed Sheeran you’re a clown. Zionists get out of town.” There were even activists inside the stadium that held up signs in protest. One read “Mack Is More” and “Free Gaza.” Sheeran also noted that the show was set up differently last night. There was no B stage, since he didn’t know what the crowd was going to be like — “I didn’t know if I’d have things thrown at me.”
“I took the B stage out because I was afraid what might happen if I stand in the middle,” he added. He then went on to talk about how he to adjust the show around musicians dropping out, that certain songs don’t sound so good on the loop pedal. Then he introduced violinist Alicia Enstrom, who he has performed with over the years, and the musicians she helped Sheeran enlist to replace Beoga.
Meanwhile, a mural of Macklemore has been painted on a slab of destroyed concrete in Gaza. It portrays him wrapped in the Palestinian flag and reads “Thank you for using your voice for Palestine.” Also, SNL UK absolutely roasted Sheeran and Kraft in a Weekend Update sketch.
How this whole shit show is being handled is interesting and sad and weird. Art has never been solely apolitical or solely escapist. It’s sad how this has turned into a giant ego tour for celebrities and millionaires, coming off more concerned about the fragility of their power than the people who are actually suffering. What really struck me about Sheeran’s speech is the insertion of the sentence “It’s normal,” when commenting on accepting criticism of his art, but not mentioning the abnormality surrounding the larger conversation.
He’s right in the regard that it is normal to have opinions. It’s normal to share them and talk about them. That line also creates an interesting contrast: criticism of art is framed as normal, while the much larger issues at hand — genocide, war, power-hungry governments hellbent on oppressing people with differing views — are treated as something far more uncomfortable and difficult to engage with.
What I hear there is that it’s comfortable and okay to argue about art, but when it comes to humanitarian issues, well, that’s something else. And yet, in a messed-up way, war is normal, even though it shouldn’t be. It’s terrifying that we’re approaching a world where we’ve normalized not talking about the uncomfortable things, the elephant in the room, the senseless suffering. None of this is normal. Let’s not stop talking about it.
