Recent Ed Sheeran support acts BIIRD and Myles Smith speak out for Macklemore: “We stand unequivocally behind every word he said”
Both BIIRD and Myles Smith, who recently supported Ed Sheeran on his ongoing ‘Loop Tour’ have spoken out in support of Macklemore, who was kicked off the line-up for sharing his support for Palestine.
The controversy surrounding the tour started when Macklemore made an impassioned speech on-stage while opening for Sheeran, calling for “all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality” and for a “free Palestine”.
The rapper then faced calls for his removal from the tour by the Israeli-American Council, who claimed he had used his platform to “advance a one-sided political agenda”.
He then responded to critics of his on stage pleas for a “Free Palestine”, saying striving for equality “should never be controversial”, but he was still removed from the tour.
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The rapper then shared a lengthy statement in which he claimed that after Robert Kraft — the owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium — started a campaign against Sheeran to drop him or the shows couldn’t go ahead.
Kraft also spoke out to defend his actions, and Sheeran claimed that he was “not complicit” or responsible for the decision, adding that he had spent the past week “trying to build bridges, to find a solution” but was “unable to do so”.
Since then, more support acts on the tour have also pulled out in solidarity with Macklemore and the people of Palestine. These include Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother and musical collaborator and vocal supporter of the people of Palestine, who shared that “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed”, and Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga along with the Danish band Lukas Graham.
Now, some artists who supported Sheeran on the previous legs of the tour have also spoken out regarding the controversy, and BIIRD has said that while they have already completed their run of dates supporting Sheeran, they want to make it heard that they stand in solidarity with Macklemore.
“Following the decision for Macklemore to be dropped from the ‘Loop Tour’, we feel it is important to be clear about where we stand,” the Irish group began in their post on social media.
“Our time on the ‘Loop Tour’ has already come to an end. Our last show was at the MetLife Stadium where we witnessed Macklemore’s speech. We stand unequivocally behind every word he said,” they added.
“Our support is with the people of Palestine, with the artists who have made the difficult decision to step away from the tour and with anybody that speaks up against Zionist lobbying groups.”
Also speaking out is BRIT Award winner Myles Smith, who has also completed his run of dates with Sheeran, but has been asked by some fans to speak out.
“For everyone asking me to drop out of Ed’s tour, let’s get something straight: I’m not on that tour anymore,” he began, before adding: “This is not me protecting a slot, a cheque, or an opportunity. I have absolutely no need to say anything here. I could have stayed silent, coasted along, or asked my PR to write something clean and careful. But fuck that.”
Smith continued: “What Palestinians are enduring is devastating and impossible to look away from. No child, no family, no innocent person should have to live under bombing, displacement, hunger, grief or fear.
“For six months of my life, I worked in a home with Holocaust survivors, spending time with the Jewish community and hearing stories of bravery, survival, loss and humanity from people who had lived through things most of us only read about. I’ve also spent my life around Muslim friends and families, spent time in mosques, celebrated Eid through my youth…Neither of those experiences taught me to sit on the fence. They taught me to be human.”
He went on: “You can mourn Jewish trauma and still condemn the bombing of Palestinian children. You can reject antisemitism and still reject occupation, collective punishment and the killing of civilians. You can understand why Israeli civilians carry fear, while saying plainly that Palestinians are suffering on a catastrophic scale and deserve freedom, safety, dignity and self-determination.”
Addressing Sheeran, Smith wrote: “It’s simple: Ed is not the victim here. Palestinians are. But let’s not get confused: Ed is also not the perpetrator. I need to be very clear about Ed. He is my friend… and there is no pressure, no trend, no headline and no comment section that will make me turn on him or hang him out to dry.”
“I know enough of the man, the way he moves, and the good he has done quietly to say this situation is painfully ironic. Because the person being flattened into a symbol online is someone who, behind the curtain, has put more time, care and money into making the world better than most people will ever know,” he added.
“Supporting Palestinian life, safety and freedom does not require me to betray someone I know to be a good human being. It requires me to keep the focus where it belongs: on the people suffering, and on the people with the power to stop it.”
Sheeran is yet to respond to his support acts pulling out.
Speaking from the stage at MetLife Stadium, Macklemore told the crowd that he wanted those in Gaza and the West Bank to know “they have not been forgotten”, adding: “I believe that every human being walking on this earth deserves exactly the same freedom.”
Kraft responded to the news in a lengthy statement confirming his part in Macklemore’s removal, sharing that the venue “does not provide a platform for hate speech.”
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