Sepideh mentioned the Mackelmore / Ed Sheeran controversy in the comments yesterday, and I think it’s worth a look since it points out just how stupid it is for entertainers to cave to dumb MAGA threats:
NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Sheeran’s tour of North and South America was plunged into chaos Tuesday when four of his supporting acts abruptly quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who was dropped for making pro-Palestinian comments onstage.
Hours after Sheeran posted on social media about Macklemore’s ouster and attributed the decision to the tour’s promoters, Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga, the Danish band Lukas Graham, and Finneas posted on Instagram that they were leaving the tour.
Rowe and Lukas Graham would have been replacements for Macklemore on Sheeran’s remaining U.S. dates, while Beoga had been performing several songs — including some the Irish folk band co-wrote — with Sheeran around the middle of each set. Finneas, who is Billie Eilish’s brother and musical collaborator, was due to tour with Sheeran in South America later this year.
Sheeran says he was trying to “avoid politics” and “avoid taking a side on Gaza” — mission not accomplished. Scott posted this statement from him in the comments yesterday:
I am not complicit. I have my personal views on this devastating conflict. Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn't mean I don't have them, and it doesn't mean I don't care. Nor does it mean I don't support causes in my own, personal way.
The tour promoters who made the decision did so after threats from Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and patron of happy ending massage parlors, who said this:
Gillette Stadium [Kraft’s stadium] has a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests and ensuring that events held at our venue do not provide a platform for hate speech. Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line.
Kraft apparently pressured fellow NFL owners to keep Sheeran out of their stadiums, too. According to the AP story above, Mackelmore followed his “Free Palestine” statement with this “To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, it in no way is criticism of you.” I guess that’s not good enough for Kraft.
Part of the reason Mackelmore was removed was that the singer Pink, who is Jewish, advocated against him. She justified her actions by referring to a 2014 appearance where Mackelmore used a costume that was a Jewish stereotype, something he apologized for. I can’t find any evidence of actual, recent anti-semitism on Mackelmore’s part, which doesn’t mean there isn’t any, but his statement quoted above certainly doesn’t seem like it to me.
So, let’s call this an object lesson for “non-political” Ed Sheeran. Cave to MAGA, lose your tour.
Moving on to the Palace of MAGA Kultur, which is what Trump wants the Kennedy Center to be, his handpicked board there has decided to take its toys home since they didn’t get their way:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board voted Tuesday to close most of the iconic performing arts venue just hours after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building.
In a social media post, Trump said the closure was needed for safety repairs. But he said the repairs, which Congress has allocated $257 million to cover, would only happen if the board was allowed to move forward with plans to add his name to the building. A federal judge has twice said that can’t happen without the approval of Congress.
“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said in the latest ruling Tuesday.
In true MAGA fashion, the Center board had tried to end run around Cooper’s order to remove Trump’s name from the building by trying to erect a “Trump is great” plaque that recognized his role in renovating the Center.
Apparently, there are some structural issues at the Center, but the place can’t make any money because any act that’s any good won’t play there, lest they receive what I will call the “Ed Sheeran treatment”. At least those artists are smart enough to realize that the people who pay to see live music are generally not MAGA.
I will consult Jen Rubin’s Bluesky feed to see if I should celebrate that the Supreme Court hasn’t weighed in on the Kennedy Center naming yet.
