Hear Me Out: How bad has Ed Sheeran's response to the backlash been?

Hear Me Out is a new weekly series where Journal Media staffers give their hottest, coldest and, where appropriate, temperature-bending takes on what we’re all discussing at the water cooler this week. 

If you’ve got a spat that needs settling, or you need the input of The Journal’s extended family of agony aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. then be sure to email tips@thejournal.ie with the subject line Hear Me Out, and give us a take that you think the world needs to hear.

AS ONE OF the world’s best-known recording artists, Ed Sheeran is no stranger to the spotlight. However, the level of scrutiny that the 35-year-old has faced since dropping Macklemore from his North American stadium tour over the rapper’s pro-Palestine declarations from the stage has been unprecedented. 

Sheeran has long cultivated an inoffensive persona, and politics has never been at the centre of his music (even though he has taken public stances over the years on issues like Brexit). 

After other support acts, including Aaron Rowe, Finneas, and his backing band Beoga, pulled out of the tour in solidarity with Macklemore, the tour itself was in doubt. However, Sheeran returned to the stage in Philadelphia on Saturday and prefaced his performance with prepared remarks that addressed the controversy. 

“I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician,” said Sheeran, his eyes locked on the teleprompter like a septuagenarian father trying to hold a conversation about your fragile emotional wellbeing while he tries to finish a game of Sudoku on his phone. “But this has put me in the middle of an important argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.”

Sheeran’s told the crowd that he’d found out who his “real” friends were this week, and also said he felt “his friends and family” abandon him. In the middle of the show Ed Sheeran announced that he would not be using a B stage, as he usually does, to wander into the middle of the crowd. Sheeran said that this was due to concerns that something might be thrown at him. He also referred to the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic and unjustifiable”. 

Across the media, Sheeran has been variously characterised as a bullied puppet, a corporate shill and a cynical mé-féiner, depending on who you listen to. Today, The Journal writers weigh in on this week’s big question. Just how bad has Ed Sheeran’s response to the backlash been?

Sinéad:

I don’t think that Sheeran was as cynical as some commentary makes out – that he was wrapping himself in others’ social activism to get a glow from it. I think he genuinely saw himself as the same type of person as Macklemore, Finneas and the members of Beoga.

When they made a different decision or took a different approach to Kraft’s request, I think it probably shook his whole identity. And when that happens to famous people, they usually don’t react sensibly or smartly. They react emotionally.

In Ed’s case, that was him misunderstanding the criticism in the first place (cancelling Macklemore was seen as the bigger sin – against both Gazans and free speech – than him not speaking about Palestine publicly) and then thinking it was all about people hating him, rather than being disappointed he sided with a billionaire censor over his artist friends and oppressed people.

So when he stopped reading from the teleprompter, he gave his genuine response. He apologised for the apology alongside tears for his own (past) self. I actually do feel sorry for him – I’d feel sorry for anyone for going through such a crisis of identity under such an intense glare of public and media attention.

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Rónán:

If Sheeran really wanted to just be staunchly middle ground, I think it was possible for him to use a strictly free speech defence and say that while he may not necessarily agree with Macklemore on politics, he will defend his right to say it on stage. That probably would have required him to quit in solidarity though, and I think ultimately he just wasn’t willing to do that.

There’s a clear hypocrisy in him saying the other night that ‘everyone is welcome’ at his gigs, when one person who was supposed to be there was literally told they weren’t welcome.

On whether it’s hurt his career? It depends how you define success in a career, it pretty much confirms him as the rather tepid person he was always suspected of being, but hey, that’s been very successful for him thus far. It’s like when Sinead O’Connor reflected on ripping up the Pope photo on SNL, she said far from destroying her career it “set me on a path that fit me better” – I think this also fits Sheeran quite well.

Tara:

I do feel like backlash in the online space leading to actual consequences in the real world is relatively rare with stuff like this. How many parents bringing their kids to Ed Sheeran shows / people in the general public who like the guy and bought tickets are actually going to decide not to go to a show because of the discourse online?

Conor:

How long until Ed appears on The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy in an attempt to rehabilitate his image in Ireland? (I give it until Christmas).

Mairéad: 

In fairness, 50k people still showed up to Ed Sheeran’s show. Granted, they probably weren’t gonna have much luck reselling. But anyway they came and cheered while he read out his “I didn’t wanna have to talk about politics” statement. There are a lot of people (probably the majority) who just want to hear nice love songs or feel nostalgic without having to think about their own morality. Because thinking about one’s morality is uncomfortable. And most people don’t feel confident about their knowledge of geopolitics and are too lazy to learn, so someone like Ed (who is clearly the same) is a sort of comfort character for them.

How bad has he fucked his career? Probably not that bad, tbh. As we now know, many powerful people in entertainment are Zionists. He’ll have their backing and the backing of “neutral” music lovers. I’d bet anyone who feels extremely passionately about Palestine already wasn’t listening to Ed Sheeran (or at least was pretending they didn’t, because they’re too cool or whatever).

Stevie:

It’s interesting how it’s moved beyond Ed Sheeran and Macklemore as musical artists, but how they now symbolise  manufactured verses authentic brands. Sheeran’s reaction exposes the limits of PR and how you can’t just crisis comms your way out of a problem like this; Macklemore shows the value of artists who are willing to hold power to account. Macklemore took a position, accepted that it might cost him something and still backed it with action afterwards – there’s something genuinely punk rock about using the literal platform of a stage to say what you believe when financial pressure is telling you not to, then donating a million quid and daring the guy who cancelled you to match it. Integrity matters more than keeping billionaires happy.

If you’ve been debating a topic with your friends, family and coworkers and you want the matter settled by the Journal Media Galaxy Brain Trust Council of Wisdom™, then email tips@thejournal.ie with the subject line Hear Me Out.