It’s like they forgot a whole page that would elaborate on this “I’m not racist, I have a black friend!” take.

I really don't put much stock in a problematic multi-billionaire, who has donated millions to the Israeli lobby, lecturing anyone on hate speech, especially when his own stadium hosted Kanye West just months ago. "Building bridges" through a vague "humanitarian crisis" and claiming he's "brought young Palestinians and Israelis together" means nothing while an actual genocide is ongoing. More PR slop for capitulating to pressure, dressed up in language vague enough to avoid saying so.

Anyway, the unfortunate timing of this contest has absolutely floored me. I had to check it wasn't The Onion when I saw the date of the deadline.

What is that time and place if not on stage, mic in hand?

10 hours ago, My Random Music said:

There's a time and a place for artists and celebrities to air their views but a concert where the audience will have differing political views is not the place to do it.

I understand that music is a form of escapism for many of us (and I count myself in that) and so having 'real world' consequences injected into it can feel disruptive, but it's important to remember that this is the whole point. In an ideal world, we could all harmoniously retreat into our vices and have a splendid time, but what we've learnt time and time again is that doing so will only numb us to the reality of what's going on. That reality is that many Palestinians are being murdered every day and if that's not confronting to you, it's because we've either built up our own wall, or had it built around us to not disrupt us from being cogs in that idyllic machine to allow people to be complacent and ignore it. Those walls help the more privileged among us to feign ignorance or just generally keep people from being radicalised because it doesn't affect their day to day life. Heck, you might even be put in a position where life is a day to day struggle to get by, and so you'll act and vote in the interests of yourself because empathy isn't high enough on your hierarchy of needs.

We need these kinds of disruptions to get people talking and aware of the situation, because these very things happen because there isn't sufficient blowback from the population on people in power to convince them not to do it. For pretty much all of my life there's been some kind of horrific thing going on in and around the Middle East and the worst thing that we can do is see that as just inevitable and out of our control, that's exactly what these people at the helm want you to do. Given the volume of support I'm seeing for Macklemore, this is the perfect opportunity to take Kraft and his cronies to task. Ed Sheeran could even redeem himself if he's willing to better assess the situation, I don't think he actually lacks humility, he's just made the wrong move at this point in time and can potentially learn from it & make amends. We're witnessing what should be a widely unpopular regime get by, because the small minority who want & benefit from it do everything in their power to perpetuate it. We need to encourage those with a platform like Macklemore to use it, otherwise why are we giving them one?

Also worth remembering, he still does Thrift Shop. Still does Good Old Days. Still closes the show with Can’t Hold Us so everyone can pop off.

The way people keep discussing it is like he takes up an entire show with politics is wild - it’s a song about (or honouring) a six year old girl who was killed in Gaza, which he prologues with a short speech about Palestine and has images in the background of the war. Any artist you can ever imagine introduces a song that means something to them with a story behind how they felt when they wrote it - be it a break up, or going through a hard time, or being in love. That IS what the song is about and it becomes a five minute moment of reflection on the biggest stage he could possibly perform on at this point in his career to make an important point in the midst of a Macklemore party of an opener. Nothing more.

I don't really have anything to add to what's already been said. We need to be talking about the fact that there's a genocide going on. This isn't about the music, this is about the platform.

I have a real big issue with the many people validating his reason for not being apolitical in this instance, where Ed has shown that he has been happy to take a political stance before, as he performed at a show which can in no way be described as apolitical. If, as Ed has stated, he "does not use his professional platform for politics", then he should have stayed well away from that Ukraine concert... But then again, everyone was pretty much aligned in their support of that and it would have been good for his image, which is evidently all he really cares about if he's as 'apolitical' in his profession as he claims to be. I'm not even sure he doesn't agree with Macklemore anyway, he hasn't given anything to imply either way, he's just made it very clear his image is what matters, and doesn't really know how to respond when push comes to shove.

I agree that there's space for him to speak up... But I'm not sure he will.

After reading Pink's statement... I actually felt what she was trying to say. Again, I really don't think she's a bad person... I think her main concern (being Jewish) is around being scapegoated when it's not Jewish people that are the issue, it's the Israeli authorities. I think she is speaking on behalf of Jewish people and saying that they are scared, because it is being framed as antisemitic by some to be pro-palestine (of course, I know that Free Palestine does not equal Anti Jew, but there is a lot of information out there, and we live in such an algorithm based society that it's easy to get into an echo chamber without looking further). I think this might be difficult for some people who are Jewish, in particular, as they were the prime (obviously not the only) target of probably the most widely remembered genocide of all time - certainly in recent history. I'm not sure she's right in how she's handled the situation, but I do believe that her intention is in the right place.

The wording of this did make me giggle.

This thing piping up now too, going absolutely insane in the replies to anyone challenging or correcting him as well. Mental.

3 minutes ago, Calum said:

This thing piping up now too, going absolutely insane in the replies to anyone challenging or correcting him as well. Mental.

Hateful and stupid go hand in hand x

Ed Sheeran is the first celebrity I've seen receive so much backlash and accountability for being a Zionist. I love to see it.

Obviously this is going off piste but I don't understand why non Israeli people are remotely pro Israel anyway? And why everyone is expected to have an opinion on it.

Where is this energy for the conflict in Sudan for example.

30 minutes ago, J00prstar said:

Obviously this is going off piste but I don't understand why non Israeli people are remotely pro Israel anyway? And why everyone is expected to have an opinion on it.

Where is this energy for the conflict in Sudan for example.

I would say part of it is just exposure. Israel has an enormous, well-organised media apparatus in the West. Sudan doesn't. History is obviously involved too. Israel has been a close Western ally for decades, with a 'liberal democracy' framing that doesn't extend to Sudan. And honestly, the West has mostly been culturally taught to care about people they see themselves in

Hopefully things are changing though, this Ed story wouldn't have blown up like this a year or two ago

Poor thing is still a bit upset the Eurovision song that he participated in this year flopped so hard x

6 hours ago, Juranamo said:

I don't really have anything to add to what's already been said. We need to be talking about the fact that there's a genocide going on. This isn't about the music, this is about the platform.

I have a real big issue with the many people validating his reason for not being apolitical in this instance, where Ed has shown that he has been happy to take a political stance before, as he performed at a show which can in no way be described as apolitical. If, as Ed has stated, he "does not use his professional platform for politics", then he should have stayed well away from that Ukraine concert... But then again, everyone was pretty much aligned in their support of that and it would have been good for his image, which is evidently all he really cares about if he's as 'apolitical' in his profession as he claims to be. I'm not even sure he doesn't agree with Macklemore anyway, he hasn't given anything to imply either way, he's just made it very clear his image is what matters, and doesn't really know how to respond when push comes to shove.

I agree that there's space for him to speak up... But I'm not sure he will.

After reading Pink's statement... I actually felt what she was trying to say. Again, I really don't think she's a bad person... I think her main concern (being Jewish) is around being scapegoated when it's not Jewish people that are the issue, it's the Israeli authorities. I think she is speaking on behalf of Jewish people and saying that they are scared, because it is being framed as antisemitic by some to be pro-palestine (of course, I know that Free Palestine does not equal Anti Jew, but there is a lot of information out there, and we live in such an algorithm based society that it's easy to get into an echo chamber without looking further). I think this might be difficult for some people who are Jewish, in particular, as they were the prime (obviously not the only) target of probably the most widely remembered genocide of all time - certainly in recent history. I'm not sure she's right in how she's handled the situation, but I do believe that her intention is in the right place.

I have tried to see things the same way as you with regards to Pink-I don’t think she’s a wholly bad person or anything-probably because I’m such a fan of her music but the thing that gets me is that she didn’t do enough in that statement and she doesn’t sort of allude to the fact she doesn’t think a genocide is happening.

She’s blinkered in this one issue in a way she isn’t on any others because of her religion. And this is often the way with a minority of people who follow a faith, sometimes they will wilfully overlook what is actually happening because it doesn’t fit with their own view of that faith.

She didn’t have to kick any of this off. One thing you can say is that she clearly is using her platform to say what she believes-she always has done-but it’s now very at odds with what a lot of her fans believe. She says she doesn’t want Palestinian children to be killed and yet she won’t condemn the genocide. She probably believes her side has been chosen for her which is something thankfully most Jewish people don’t believe.

.

Edited yesterday at 17:241 day by Spiceboy

I think the wildest thing in all of this is i learnt his name is Ben, not sure why I thought his name was literally Macklemore

34 minutes ago, T Boy said:

I have tried to see things the same way as you with regards to Pink-I don’t think she’s a wholly bad person or anything-probably because I’m such a fan of her music but the thing that gets me is that she didn’t do enough in that statement and she doesn’t sort of allude to the fact she doesn’t think a genocide is happening.

She’s blinkered in this one issue in a way she isn’t on any others because of her religion. And this is often the way with a minority of people who follow a faith, sometimes they will wilfully overlook what is actually happening because it doesn’t fit with their own view of that faith.

She didn’t have to kick any of this off. One thing you can say is that she clearly is using her platform to say what she believes-she always has done-but it’s now very at odds with what a lot of her fans believe. She says she doesn’t want Palestinian children to be killed and yet she won’t condemn the genocide. She probably believes her side has been chosen for her which is something thankfully most Jewish people don’t believe.

I would probably also lean towards (despite Pink not saying it directly) her not condoning the genocide. She said that innocent people, Palestinian or otherwise, should not be caught up in it. She makes a very clear stance on Hamas, yes, but she also says that she doesn't speak on behalf of any government. I'm not sure I'm well educated on the situation enough to state whether Hamas should be considered a terrorist organisation or not, but I feel like the Israeli authorities are FAR from innocent and have clearly targeted all Palestinians - not just Hamas.

I don't think her stance matches that of every Jew, she clearly does. All I can imagine is that it's probably a very sensitive subject for a number of Jews (whether that's a big or small number), Pink included, that the genocide could end up in an increase in antisemitism, and that would obviously be terrifying for a Jew, baring in mind past events.

I'm aware that the Israeli government != all Jews (and I'm sure many Jewish people are too), despite the Star of David being in their flag, but I can see why some Jews would be scared that someone that is Pro Palestine might fuel antisemitic voices.

My main concern is that there is a genocide going on, and I'm firmly of the stance that Israel should allow there to be a free Palestine. For similar reasons around why I don't understand why so many people in our country are so obsessed with immigration and small boats: we all live on this planet together, I'm not sure why it matters who lives where. It's 2026, why can't we all just let each other live?

32 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

I wouldn’t be so sure as she supported Ed’s statement…

Ps that is NOT my reaction there btw I was sent it by someone else.

I'm not sure if this adds to her point or detracts from it. She could be liking the opening statement, or liking that Ed loves himself more than voicing an opinion.

I don't actually know what either of their stances are on the genocide, all I know is they've both said that they don't like the bloodshed in Gaza, I would hope they would be condemning the IDF, and if that's the case they have the platform to publicly condemn it (so should)

Edited September 17Sep 17 by Juranamo

He just doesn’t get it.

The way he blames his opening acts at the end of that statement!

1 hour ago, T Boy said:

He just doesn’t get it.

Girlies this is a fake post