U2 frontman Bono and drummer Larry Mullen have shared their thoughts on the controversy surrounding rapper Macklemore's removal from Ed Sheeran's US stadium tour following his onstage "Free Palestine" speeches.
The controversy has its origins in a speech that US rapper Macklemore (Benjamin Haggerty) made onstage on September 4 while supporting Sheeran at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Addressing the crowd, the Seattle rapper said, "A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine." He went on to perform his song Hind's Hall, which condemns Israel's military action in Gaza.
Following criticism by the campaign group StopAntisemitism, Macklemore doubled down on his comments the following evening, directly addressing his "Jewish brothers and sisters" in the audience.
"Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, is in no way a criticism of you," he said.
Following Macklemore's comments, the Israeli American Council launched a petition demanding his removal from the tour, and on September 14, it was revealed that Macklemore would no longer be performing on the tour. Promoters Messina Touring Group told Rolling Stone that it had been informed by venues that they would not allow Macklemore to perform at future shows.
Macklemore then alleged that American businessman Robert Kraft, who owns the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, had personally vetoed his future participation in the tour, and encouraged other stadium owners to do the same. In solidarity with Macklemore, fellow support acts - Billie Eilish's brother Finneas, Danish band Lukas Graham, Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe and Irish folk band Beoga - all withdrew from the tour.
During a recent interview with Rolling Stone UK, Bono and Larry Mullen were asked for their views on the controversy. U2 worked with Ed Sheeran on the song Yours Eternally on this year's Days of Ash EP, a song which addresses Russia's invasion of Ukraine, via lyrics taking the form of a letter written by a Ukrainian soldier.
"We shouldn't sort of personalise this," Bono says when asked about Sheeran. "I think Brian Eno referred to it today: he said pop stars are kinda like little fish in a large sea of huge forces and religion and politics, and so I don't want to dwell on what Ed and Macklemore, that incident.
"I will say this: when we did Yours Eternally, he [Sheeran] was saying, 'You're not going to get me into politics?' Right, and I was saying, This this soldier who inspired us, he loved you Ed, and you've worked on this song. And he said, 'Yeah, but I just want to keep my thing free'. So you can't be pushing people around."
Larry Mullen then quotes from Brian Eno once more, saying, 'He was just saying that artists choose whether they want to be involved, and they are entitled to choose whether they want to be involved or not. And it's not our job to criticise that, no matter how we feel."
He continues, "Brian Eno was saying that it takes time for these things to evolve, and people to come to realisations, and not to personalise this. And Bob Geldof was saying a similar thing. And I really appreciated hearing that because it is confusing and it is complicated. But we are absolutely clear about promoters or billionaire owners, and the idea that they could have some influence on what you say, or what you do on a stage, and we've talked about this. If you applied that logic to you too, we would have been out of business on Sunday, Bloody Sunday."
"I think what Eno was saying is, You have to persuade people by reason, you can't try to force people into a position," Bono concludes.
The world's leading association of genocide scholars has declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. A resolution passed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) states that Israel's conduct meets the legal definition as laid out in the UN convention on genocide.
Israel's military campaign, a response to the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli soil that saw around 1,200 people killed and 251 people taken hostage, has resulted in the death of over 73,780 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel denies any genocidal intent.
The conflict in Gaza has been on-going for decades, with official UN figures for the 15 years before the 2023 escalation recording 7277 Palestinian deaths and 162,121 Palestinian injuries in occupied Palestinian territory and Israel since 2008, and 368 Israeli deaths and 6,670 Israeli injuries during the same time span in the region.
