Tori Sheehan
Following the recent controversy with Macklemore being dropped from the LOOP Tour, Ed Sheeran has finally broken his silence on the matter. It has been a rough few weeks for Ed Sheeran, as all support acts pulled out of his tour following the backlash.
Speaking Out Loud: The Statements
Ed Sheeran publicly acknowledged the recent backlash for the first time. During his first performance since Macklemore was dropped, Ed Sheeran appeared emotional to fans who still came to his tour. Opening the show by admitting he had made “mistakes”
Honouring 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.
Ed Sheeran told the audience that it wouldn’t be his regular LOOP Tour show because of stage adjustments. The British singer-songwriter told the audience at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia that he feared people would start throwing things at him.
Since 2011, Ed Sheeran has been nothing but a professional musician; however, he claimed that over the last few weeks, he questioned whether he “wanted to be an artist at all”. Going on to say that he was unsure if he would ever be on stage again.
I really didn’t know whether I’d be even getting on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all.
Regarding the actual reason behind the backlash, Ed Sheeran went on to describe how the situation on October 7th 2023 at the Nova music festival was “horrific” and highlighted Jewish pain. Following that statement, Ed Sheeran described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophe”, “unjustifiable” and “disproportionate”. Describing the “systemic injustice” in the West Bank and how it “cannot be overlooked”.
What happened in Israel and at the Nova music festival on October 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, children’s lives.
And the systemic injustice we are seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.
The Backlash
All of this comes after weeks of backlash. For a full run through of exactly what happened, we have an article detailing it all.
To put it briefly. Macklemore publicly announced that he had been dropped from the LOOP Tour due to his outspoken support for Palestine. This led to outrage from both artists and the public, who called for some sort of accountability.
Just before the show at Lincoln Financial Field, a small pro-Palestinian protest took place nearby at a local subway station.
The A Team? No Team.
The recent show included changes beyond the stage. Following Macklemore’s original statement, all supporting acts withdrew their support. This included Ed Sheeran’s own backing band. As a result, Ed Sheeran performed with no opening act and without his usual backing band. Instead, he was later joined on stage by five musicians. Ed Sheeran explained how the five of them had three days to learn his songs.
Another massive change was the ticket prices. Usually, an Ed Sheeran ticket costs anywhere between $140 -400 or 122 – 350 euros. The most recent show saw ticket prices fall to $32- 76 or 27- 88 euros.
No Neutral Ground
As Richard Bodin mentioned in the linked article above on this matter, “Sheeran has also expressed public views on issues including Ukraine and Brexit, making his decision to keep his position private on Gaza particularly noticeable”. It can be hard for the public to view these statements as anything other than a PR move.
Macklemore, a peer and alleged friend of Ed Sheeran, has been publicly outspoken regarding the situation in Gaza for a while now. News coverage is constantly posting updates about the situation, yet fans and the public are supposed to believe that Ed Sheeran did “not know enough”, in his own words.
“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.”
