Ed Sheeran

[Mesai]

I don't see how anyone can come to that conclusion at all, from a PR perspective or any other perspective. He's never said anything that's pro-genocide, and from what he's said, he tried to build bridges between the promoters, stadium owners and Macklemore.

I think you need to re-read what I wrote - I said it "looks" that way, which is a completely reasonable assumption to make. People can make up their own minds about whether they want to support him but that doesn't mean he isn't spineless and self-serving.

I'm not sure what people expected him to do? Threaten to drop the tour if Macklemore was removed? That all sounds rather simple and easy to people when they don't have to consider things like he does such as fans who have paid money, travelled, taken time off work and paid for accomodation.

It's also not much of a threat when Stadium owners were already threatening to pull the plug on them playing in their venues.

It would be a PR disaster for the venues/Ticketmaster if they'd cancelled the tour. They'd also be the ones refunding people and eating a lot of costs. Greed always wins and Ed isn't exactly on benefits.

Your comment proves exactly why he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. Ultimately, his tour is under threat of not continuing or at least, not generating as much turnover and these things have absolutely zero impact on ending the atrocities any sooner.

Yes, but to varying degrees. The current situation is worst case for him, but I honestly doubt he cares.

 

[Mekrel]

I think you need to re-read what I wrote - I said it "looks" that way, which is a completely reasonable assumption to make. People can make up their own minds about whether they want to support him but that doesn't mean he isn't spineless and self-serving.

It's not reasonable at all, not in the slightest. What you're suggesting is he "looks" to be pro-genocide, but on what grounds? It's a complete leap to conflate someone not speaking out about the Palestinian cause with them being supportive of genocide.

At the very worst end of the scale, he can only be accused of fear of speaking out in order to not bring his tour into disrepute. Ultimately he doesn't have to speak out about it, he's not some authority on the matter, his words won't persuade Israel to end their atrocities unfortunately. As Macklemore has found out, putting your opinion out there, no matter how valid it is, has has serious complications not only for him but also for Ed Sheeran.

Some pop-star's tour being under threat isn't going to help the Palestinian people, otherwise I'll be all for it. Political pressure such as sanctions are far more effective, and I doubt for one second any Palestinian is going to be sleeping safer tonight because of Ed Sheeran's tour being cancelled.

 

[imtoooldforthis]

Mad how many people have come out and started talking smack about him as a person.

His tattoo artist and also his cousin have both basically said he's a bad person, his cousin comes across as a bit of a nutjob/weirdo though.

Macklemore has found out, putting your opinion out there, no matter how valid it is, has has serious complications not only for him but also for Ed Sheeran.

Whilst true i think it's likely that Macklemore has almost certainly gained infinitely more publicity from this than if he had just done a few support slots on a tour. His sales are probably up as well relative to any boost he would have got from touring.

Not that I'm saying he's done it cynically, it wasn't his choice to have stadium owners boot him off the tour, but for someone like him it's probably boosted his career, whereas for Sheeran it's just been a straight trainwreck (albeit a temporary one which people will forget about soon enough)

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

In a nutshell, Ed Sheeran is undergoing a character assassination because one of his support acts said "free Palestine"? Is that it? The brunt of this should have rested on whoever decided who Ed's support acts were, not Ed himself.

@Blackjack Davy nails it, about how everything is now politicised and there is no turning away from it. Granted there was rivalry and banter between bands back in the 1990s e.g. Blur vs Oasis, but world politics stayed out of it. I also watched the 6 o'clock news every weekday evening from 1990 until 1998 when I left home for uni. Yes there were wars, the Gulf War, the IRA, refugees in Yugoslavia, Euro-skeptics, general elections, the Dunblane massacre, the murder of Jill Dando, the Jamie Bulger brothers and so on, so a lot of these were politics or did touch on politics but I don't remember it being so political back then.

Edit: my post sounds like I'm sucking up to him, but I don't know the guy or his music. I just detest the situation in principle and it feels to me that the general public is making a meal out of a non-issue.

 

[arknor]

In a nutshell, Ed Sheeran is undergoing a character assassination because one of his support acts said "free Palestine"? Is that it? The brunt of this should have rested on whoever decided who Ed's support acts were, not Ed himself.

@Blackjack Davy nails it, about how everything is now politicised and there is no turning away from it. Granted there was rivalry and banter between bands back in the 1990s e.g. Blur vs Oasis, but world politics stayed out of it. I also watched the 6 o'clock news every weekday evening from 1990 until 1998 when I left home for uni. Yes there were wars, the Gulf War, the IRA, refugees in Yugoslavia, Euro-skeptics, general elections, the Dunblane massacre, the murder of Jill Dando, the Jamie Bulger brothers and so on, so a lot of these were politics or did touch on politics but I don't remember it being so political back then.

Edit: my post sounds like I'm sucking up to him, but I don't know the guy or his music. I just detest the situation in principle and it feels to me that the general public is making a meal out of a non-issue.

its cancel culture because hes not openly left wing and maybe doesnt really care about politics.
you will be left wing in public or we will come for you with negative sentiment online.
Check reddit sometime and look at UKnews etc and note how some stories get thousands of likes, whilst most get maybe a few hundred.

its literal activism to try and promote certain things and control the narrative with fake engagement, alternative permissions will be heavily downvoted and people won;t be allowed to see them the echo chamber must keep echoing.

police seem full of left wing female officers now too who don;t even know the law.
literal HR with a police badge

I'd ask to speak with an adult our countries literally becoming a laughing stock
literal reddit mods thinking the world behaves like reddit

 

[mattyfez]

I don't even like his music and I think he looks like a weird little hobbit or something but yeah, this is a great example of internet aresery.

The guy has done nothing wrong, he does a lot of altruistic charity stuff, and even the people that were on his tour that quit have said as much.

He got put in a crap position by some extreme right wing stadium owner in yankee land and in retrospect he could have played the situation better... but that's not on him. He's only human.

 

[Mesai]

It's not reasonable at all, not in the slightest. What you're suggesting is he "looks" to be pro-genocide, but on what grounds? It's a complete leap to conflate someone not speaking out about the Palestinian cause with them being supportive of genocide.

There's genocide in Palestine, his opening act speaks out about it, Ed supports cancelling said opening act. Whether that's due to pressure from a benefactor or promoter or because of his own personal beliefs, who knows, but it still makes it "look" like he's supporting the other side - doesn't mean he "is", but he's not putting up much resistance.

Similar for you, you support his action so I can only assume you're also aligned on those views. I guess it's easier for me because I've never liked his music so no real loss.

 

[Mekrel]

There's genocide in Palestine, his opening act speaks out about it, Ed supports cancelling said opening act. Whether that's due to pressure from a benefactor or promoter or because of his own personal beliefs, who knows, but it still makes it "look" like he's supporting the other side - doesn't mean he "is", but he's not putting up much resistance.

Similar for you, you support his action so I can only assume you're also aligned on those views. I guess it's easier for me because I've never liked his music so no real loss.

You really need to clarify what sources you're using to make these assumptions. Especially when you're claiming I support his action, when in reality, it wasn't even Sheeran's action to remove Macklemore from the tour.

You've literally said in the post in quoting "Ed supports cancelling said opening act". This does not align with the facts, especially that Macklemore's contract wasn't even with Sheeran, it was with the promoter.

"I can only assume" - I would argue that isn't the only thing you can do. You can look at what has actually happened rather than just labelling someone a supporter of genocide because you've chosen to join dots.

My view is there was nothing wrong with Macklemore's views, or how he expressed them in terms of the words used. I just don't see why he had to risk someone else's tour he's a supporting act on, especially when the views of famous people at music gigs aren't enough to stop Israel committing atrocities.

I'm not a particular fan of Sheeran's music, although I recognise he's clearly a talented musician and songwriter even if his genre isn't my cup of tea. However, I still dislike the pitchfork mentality of going after people just because they've not voiced their support of you cause, even when they've not expressed an opposing view either.

 

[sigma]

It really isn't clear cut at all.

Apart from the war crimes you mean? Such as the hunting down and killing of news reporters.

 

[sigma]

I don't even like his music and I think he looks like a weird little hobbit or something but yeah, this is a great example of internet aresery.

The guy has done nothing wrong, he does a lot of altruistic charity stuff, and even the people that were on his tour that quit have said as much.

He got put in a crap position by some extreme right wing stadium owner in yankee land and in retrospect he could have played the situation better... but that's not on him. He's only human.

It's kinda his fault for agreeing to have an outspoken support act on his show if he didn't want it to get political!

 

[Nabinium]

Yeah he should have said something about having that support act, but all of this blame seems to be placed solely on Ed. Why are these people not attacking the organisers etc?

 

[Mesai]

You really need to clarify what sources you're using to make these assumptions. Especially when you're claiming I support his action, when in reality, it wasn't even Sheeran's action to remove Macklemore from the tour.

My understanding is that this is the Ed Sheeran tour. It's not Download or Reading Festival where you're buying a ticket to see multiple artists, you're buying a ticket to see Ed Sheeran and whatever opening acts happen to be there, right? He has control over his tour.

Yes, the decision to cut Macklemore came from the venue, I don't think I've said otherwise, but Ed supports the decision otherwise he'd have cancelled. Being neutral doesn't mean inaction.

Imagine a scenario where a white dude gets invited to a BBQ and brings his non-white friend along as a plus 1. They get there and realise it's hosted by the KKK so the non-white guy needs to leave. The white guy decides to stay because he really likes ribs. Ed really likes ribs.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

 

[Nabinium]

However, I still dislike the pitchfork mentality of going after people just because they've not voiced their support of you cause, even when they've not expressed an opposing view either.

This is exactly one of the reasons why social media is a ********. A waste of life participating on there, regardless of your views. A waste of life even opening those sites. I've always avoided it like the plague and will forever do so.

 

[Shamikebab]

This is exactly one of the reasons why social media is a ********. A waste of life participating on there, regardless of your views. A waste of life even opening those sites. I've always avoided it like the plague and will forever do so.

You realise you're on social media right now?

 

[Nabinium]

You realise you're on social media right now?

A very marked difference between what is said on here and what is said on the likes of Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

 

[Ayahuasca]

You realise you're on social media right now?

It's not really the same though, is it? Post something people deem racist etc on here and the worst that's likely to happen is the post gets deleted and your account suspended.

Post it on Facebook and people know exactly who you are. Your name, your face and finding your employer are all a couple of clicks away. Working out who someone is on a forum usually takes a lot more digging than that.

There's no algorithm pushing content at you on here either. You go looking for the threads you want to read. Facebook decides what you see and it isn't picking the calm stuff.

 

[Nabinium]

One of the key differences is the moderation on here, compared to those other platforms.

The fact that there is a specific political subforum on here that is heavily moderated says it all. Such a thing doesn't exist on Facebook, etc., and those platforms generally contain other junk that isn't worth consuming. They're the bane of society.

 

[sigma]

A very marked difference between what is said on here and what is said on the likes of Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

This place ended up in the news too based on comments made

 

[sigma]

Yeah he should have said something about having that support act, but all of this blame seems to be placed solely on Ed. Why are these people not attacking the organisers etc?

The backlash I believe is mainly on Ed due to the lengthy reply he made. He unintentionally waved the red flag at the bull. He also claimed not to be political but still showed support for Ukraine iirc?

I think it's a catalogue of errors.