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Ed Sheeran songs removed from airwaves over Macklemore Palestine row (www.the-independent.com)
submitted 2 days ago by mc900ftJesus@lemy.lol to c/world@quokk.au
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[-] countvon@lemmy.world 47 points 2 days ago

I wonder what it's like to be Ed Sheeran. Is there any air gap at all between Ed-Sheeran-the-brand and Ed-Sheeran-the-human? Does Ed Sheeran even exist as a human anymore, separate from the brand?

The brand clearly thinks it'll make more money by not taking any strong position on an active genocide. Makes sense for a brand, it's a corporate construct that's fundamentally amoral. It can only value profit.

What I'm wondering is what happened to the human? It existed at one point, before the brand did. Does it still exist? Does it share the same profit motive as the brand of the same name? Can it feel shame anymore? I hope it does.

[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 27 points 2 days ago

[-] SourDragon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

As a stoner, yoink!

[-] Grimy@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

I'm fairly certain you stop feeling shame the moment you hit a specific net worth.

[-] Kraiden@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago

I said this elsewhere but it bears repeating.

It's not entirely profit motive. He very much DID take a stance. He tried to "both sides" it, completely ignoring the fact that one side has near infinite resources, access to SIGNIFICANTLY more advanced weaponry, and have openly declared their intentions to completely annihilate the other (AKA: genocide) while the other is on it's knees, bleeding out, begging for the children to be spared.

It's like responding to a slap in the face, by setting someone's whole town on fire, and then justifying it with "well they started it"

[-] Malica@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

I read somewhere that he always saves front row tickets to raffle out to every day people, so it's not just rich people. Maybe he was human then.

[-] sik0fewl@piefed.ca 6 points 1 day ago

Maybe he could invite Palestinian children and see how many seats are filled after Israel’s next school-bombing campaign.

[-] Malica@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Fuck him, we now know where he stands

[-] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The reality is many people don’t have the privilege to be “apolitical”, because politics is the oppression of them by someone else.

Maybe you can keep quiet and “stay in your lane” or whatever, but that is privilege, and eventually politics might come for you, and then what?

Ed screwed this up, definitely was too blind to see how bad you look when someone directly adjacent to you gets strung out over “politics” and you just keep going with it like nothing happened.

I don’t think he deserves his career ended, but he definitely deserves this tour to sink until he can really understand and acknowledge what happened here. It’s not okay to just capitulate every time a rich person wields their power like that. We’ve seen it 1000 times, it’s how Weinstein got away with it, it’s how so much toxicity is enforced.

[-] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 9 points 2 days ago

If you're a public person and your public statements can influence a lot of people, you can't really be "apolitical", yeah. Absence of a statement is also going to be perceived as a statement in support of status quo.

[-] Grimy@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I think some subjects you simply can't be apolitical about. It's genocide, imagine someone not taking sides about Holocaust denial. For certain things, staying silent when you are asked to voice your opinion is just supporting evil. Tbh, he did more than just stay silent about it, he helped silence someone else.

Guy deserves to have his career ended.

[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago

I don’t think he deserves his career ended...

Well, that depends. Who is his target audience? Where does his target audience by enlarge stand on the issue? Did he just shit all over his target audience with his actions/inaction? If the answer to the last question is yes, then he absolutely deserves to have his career ended. His career exists by the grace of his audience. Do not shit on your audience.

[-] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Sorry, I don’t think this should be career ending because it’s possible to learn and do better.

It was incredibly shitty what he did.

Is it forgivable is the question, and only doing better can answer it.

[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago

That's up to his audience to decide. It's not up to me, you, or him.

[-] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

Yes, agreed

[-] grue@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Is this about the same radio station that I read about in some other thread a day or so ago, or is it a spreading trend?

[-] MrFlibble4747@sh.itjust.works -2 points 2 days ago

Not an Ed fanboy but from what I've seen he seems like a decent human being and his stance on people do not go to concerts to see/hear political messages is so right!

The Israeli/Palestine your atrocity is worse than our atrocity discussion is so STUPID!

They are all bad and the mistreatment of any people to further a political agenda is abhorrent!

We only have the dumb redhead Pauline Hanson to contend with but we are heading in the same direction sadly!

[-] plant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 46 points 2 days ago

I turned my screen upside down and still can't see how you figured music is not political

[-] countvon@lemmy.world 34 points 2 days ago

I bet they used to like Rage Against The Machine before they got all political.

[-] Eldritch@piefed.world 5 points 1 day ago

Pop music generally isn't. But I don't tend to listen to pop. And nearly everything I do listen to is strongly political. Punk, goth, industrial etc. Normal people unfortunately strive to be ignorant and keep their heads down. Thinking it will get them further.

[-] plant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago

No, but if your head is so deep in the sand that Macklemore being political is surprising I guess you get what you get

[-] Eldritch@piefed.world 3 points 1 day ago

Yes. I may not be a big Macklemore fan. But all this controversy over what he did is bullshit

[-] lath@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

Most people who listen to music listen to music. They don't read or understand lyrics or their hidden meanings. They even get the sentences wrong at times because they just like the rhythm and the sounds.

The political message reaches those who want to hear it, but for everything else it might as well not even exist.

[-] plant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago

I'm assuming you listen to music with vocals. Probably in a language you understand! Why is this

[-] lath@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

Assume away. It's probably because i like the sounds. Whatever the words are doesn't matter if the music doesn't resonate.

[-] rumimevlevi@sh.itjust.works 27 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

No nice person tell another person that holding a Palestinian flag and free Palestine hurt genocide supporters feelings. Calling opposing genocide political is so disgusting. Fuck off with your bullshit

[-] MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 days ago

How did you come to the conclusion that music isn't political?

[-] Sgt_choke_n_stroke@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

You're a bot or paid shill

this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2026
228 points (100.0% liked)

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