I don't think a grown man worth hundreds of millions of pounds needs any sympathy. I'm sorry but I don't feel sorry for him x

The idea that Ed Sheeran was helpless, boxed in by contracts, protecting his crew, doesn't survive contact with his touring power or bank balance. If concern for staff was really the driver, he had the money to remove that concern entirely and still take a stand. He chose not to.

'He's apolitical' doesn't hold either. I don't buy that staying neutral exists anymore in 2026, silence gets read as a position whether you like it or not. Ed isn't even silent by default anyway, he fundraised for Ukraine. He's perfectly capable of picking a side. He just wasn't willing to pick this one, because standing against a genocide came with a cost to the capital and relationships he'd rather protect than risk.

Compare that to his own openers and band, all of them earning a fraction of what he does, with none of his cushion. It cost them actual money and a platform to pull out and stand for something they believe in. Ed risked neither. Whatever happens to the tour, be realistic, he won't face any real consequences. A few weeks of bad headlines from siding with a man like Kraft (who you really shouldn't look into by the way) and then back to business

9 hours ago, dandy* said:

It’s actually quite tough when an act who you love does something questionable… I felt the same as you T Boy when Roísin Murphy’s trans statements happened and needed time to level everything, I just wanted to believe that she didn’t really think like that and there would be some sort of explanation that kinda made it okay. But then there wasn’t and it just got worse instead 😕

😕 Sadly relate to this. Róisín was one of my favourite artists ever, and the timing made it worse, she was about to release her best album in years! Her music was always experimental, inclusive, rooted in queer culture, so it stung even more when she showed that wasn't really her. Some things matter more than getting to enjoy a new album though, so I haven't listened to her since x

Edited September 16Sep 16 by blacksquare

I do have sympathy in the sense of "person makes a statement to address something that has happened, only ends up making it worse" cos I've seen that happen a million times, and I once got caught up in that sort of thing too.

I still think he is getting a disproportionate amount of anger directed at him but I sort of understand it. It's not like we can do anything about the people in power.

2 hours ago, Hassaan said:

It's not like we can do anything about the people in power.

Even though democracy is slowly fading away, or never existed in some parts of the world, we can try to elect other people while we still have a chance. Until they get corrupted and we are in the same situation again.

I'm glad there's finally a backlash against Ed Sheeran who has shown himself to be a complete w*n**r numerous times over the years. From the bragging about f***ing supermodels, to the lies about 'allowing' Elton John a number 1 single with 'Cold Heart', to the lyrics praising Chris Brown on 'Freaky Friday', the controlling and disturbing lyrics on 'Cross Me', the objectifying women's bodies and exploiting the private struggles of his former friends in his other songs and now the hypocrisy of him claiming to be against promoting politics when he's told his fans to vote Labour before and performed at the Ukraine benefit concert before....just honestly I'm glad to see some him being brought down a peg finally.

I adore Macklemore for this but I really wish his music was more interesting. I do love rap and appreciate everything he writes about in his lyrics but I just listened to The Heist for the first time and was bored out of my mind.

39 minutes ago, shadow2009 said:

I'm glad there's finally a backlash against Ed Sheeran who has shown himself to be a complete w*n**r numerous times over the years. From the bragging about f***ing supermodels, to the lies about 'allowing' Elton John a number 1 single with 'Cold Heart', to the lyrics praising Chris Brown on 'Freaky Friday', the controlling and disturbing lyrics on 'Cross Me', the objectifying women's bodies and exploiting the private struggles of his former friends in his other songs and now the hypocrisy of him claiming to be against promoting politics when he's told his fans to vote Labour before and performed at the Ukraine benefit concert before....just honestly I'm glad to see some him being brought down a peg finally.

I adore Macklemore for this but I really wish his music was more interesting. I do love rap and appreciate everything he writes about in his lyrics but I just listened to The Heist for the first time and was bored out of my mind.

I had no idea about any of that!!! I just found him cheesy, fake and big headed, obsessed with the charts rather thsn with the art, making empty, commercial, sugar coated songs that were about nothing. Did he do a Spice Girls and say he was moving his song a week to give Elton another week at no.1 or somethin?? All that stuff about women :o :o I didn't know he was a Corbyn fan, but all the other stuff has outweighed that.

Macklemore has always been on the right sidd of histoey, but I also do not like his boring music :') At least we can stream the three bops he put out years ago.

Totally agree with all Macklemores statements 👏🏽👏🏽

Are his songs gaining any traction on streaming?

5 minutes ago, Lukuzz said:

Totally agree with all Macklemores statements 👏🏽👏🏽

Are his songs gaining any traction on streaming?

On iTunes he's charting high with Hind's Hall!!!

On Spotify, Can't Hold Us is the only one charting inside Top 200!!!

2 hours ago, Summer FRUITS!!!!! said:

I had no idea about any of that!!! I just found him cheesy, fake and big headed, obsessed with the charts rather thsn with the art, making empty, commercial, sugar coated songs that were about nothing. Did he do a Spice Girls and say he was moving his song a week to give Elton another week at no.1 or somethin?? All that stuff about women :o :o I didn't know he was a Corbyn fan, but all the other stuff has outweighed that.

Macklemore has always been on the right sidd of histoey, but I also do not like his boring music :') At least we can stream the three bops he put out years ago.

I can't find the exact interview (it was posted on Popjustice Forum) but I Googled and saw an AI summary so it definitely happened - he said that he held back signed CD's of 'Shivers' to give Elton John (he didn't mention Dua) the number 1 single and encouraged his fans to go stream 'Cold Heart' as well. This was after he had already been number 1 for ages and 'Cold Heart' was going to be number 1 whether or not he released the CD's!!

Just such an arrogant knob of a guy.

1 hour ago, shadow2009 said:

I can't find the exact interview (it was posted on Popjustice Forum) but I Googled and saw an AI summary so it definitely happened - he said that he held back signed CD's of 'Shivers' to give Elton John (he didn't mention Dua) the number 1 single and encouraged his fans to go stream 'Cold Heart' as well. This was after he had already been number 1 for ages and 'Cold Heart' was going to be number 1 whether or not he released the CD's!!

Just such an arrogant knob of a guy.

Now your just being ridiculous cold heart only had its 1 week at number 1 because of physicals itself, the gap was literally 4k, it was pretty obvious he was supportive of Elton they both literally had recorded a christmas single together released a few months later and a ladbaby version for christmas number 1, he could of easily shifted 4k physicals back in 2021 if he was a "knob" like you claim

4 minutes ago, 777666jason said:

Now your just being ridiculous cold heart only had its 1 week at number 1 because of physicals itself, the gap was literally 4k, it was pretty obvious he was supportive of Elton they both literally had recorded a christmas single together released a few months later and a ladbaby version for christmas number 1, he could of easily shifted 4k physicals back in 2021 if he was a "knob" like you claim

This doesn't disprove what I said that Sheeran claimed he held back his own CD's so that Elton would get the number 1? He definitely made this claim. I remember him being absolutely dragged on Popjustice for it. It was a video interview.

Edited September 16Sep 16 by shadow2009

I may be misremembering but didn’t he also say he recorded the Christmas song with Elton so that Elton could have a Christmas no.1?

There have been plenty of reasons Ed has rubbed me up the wrong way in the past but whether you love him or hate him, he clearly dropped the ball this time. I can feel sympathy for the position he was in but he chose wrong and deserves the criticism.

5 minutes ago, shadow2009 said:

This doesn't disprove what I said that Sheeran claimed he held back his own CD's so that Elton would get the number 1? He definitely made this claim. I remember him being absolutely dragged on Popjustice for it. It was a video interview.

Oh yeah hes awful for not releasing his signed cds that were probably ready considering he had signed cds for nearly every single that era, how dare he support his idol instead

Can you imagine if Buzzjack existed during World War II.

"Have you heard that Doris Day refused to cancel her gig in Germany after hearing that her support singer was against the genocide happening in the concentration camps there?"

"OMG tell me about it. I always knew she was a wrong un since that week in 1942 when she strategically released all those signed sheet music to stop The Andrews Sisters from finally making #1 that week"

1 hour ago, 777666jason said:

Oh yeah hes awful for not releasing his signed cds that were probably ready considering he had signed cds for nearly every single that era, how dare he support his idol instead

Why are you acting so obtuse? It’s not the fact he held back the CD’s (whether or not he even did, and apparently when they WERE released it wasn’t enough to beat Elton anyway), it was the fact he made it public knowledge and worded it that he did Elton a favour that riled people up.

Just now, shadow2009 said:

Why are you acting so obtuse? It’s not the fact he held back the CD’s (whether or not he even did, and apparently when they WERE released it wasn’t enough to beat Elton anyway), it was the fact he made it public knowledge and worded it that he did Elton a favour that riled people up.

Think your clearly being the obtuse one and twisting it to fit your narrative when he was clearly bigging up Elton in the said interview,, do you have the same opinion about Justin Beiber quite obviously supported the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS choir getting number 1 over him

Edited September 16Sep 16 by 777666jason

I get Ed being arrogant and disingenuous but it feels trivial compared to what he has or well hasn't done this time, but this argument doesn't feel productive really given the topic at hand.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DdXFZLNARm4/?stkn=MXQzNjMzNHVjbWtidA==

A true class act 👏👏👏

1 hour ago, shadow2009 said:

Why are you acting so obtuse? It’s not the fact he held back the CD’s (whether or not he even did, and apparently when they WERE released it wasn’t enough to beat Elton anyway), it was the fact he made it public knowledge and worded it that he did Elton a favour that riled people up.

I don't think it is him being obtuse but more how petty and quite frankly ridiculous and insulting to Macklemore himself that you are using this actual serious incident as a chance to say how glad you are that he is getting backlash because he said he allowed his idol to be #1 by holding back CDs (which he did).... Do better tbh.

That is a great statement from Macklemore himself there, cleverly pointing out Robert Kraft, and sharing the truly important message behind all this.

Can we maybe move away from the chart talk and personal insults please? This isn't really the time for it when there is more serious discussion going on in this thread imo

I thought this topic would have a discussion about the Ed Sheeran tour.

The fact of the matter is the only thing that unites thousands of people at a music event is the music itself. By making political statements you're only going to divide the crowd. Everyone has their own political views and they're not going to change their mind just because of something Macklemore says, particularly when it's Ed Sheeran they've come to see rather than him.

If it had been at a pro-Palestine event then fair enough but this was an Ed Sheeran concert and politics should stay out of it. People are there for the music, not to be lectured. I personally hate it when artists make political statements at their gigs whether I agree with them or not. I just think shut up and get on with the music.