Ed Sheerans silence speaks volumes as pro-Hamas Macklemore takes the flak

Ed Sheeran can’t say he didn’t know.For the last two years, rapper Macklemore has made radical political activism as central to his public persona as his music.He’s released songs that falsely accuse Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid,” and that embrace the violent pro-Hamas campus protest movement.He’s donated concert proceeds to the Hamas-aligned UNRWA, an organization whose employees took part in the Oct. 7 massacre.Yet Sheeran — the folk-pop singer-songwriter whose bashful demeanor has won him a huge following among both teen girls and their moms — chose to hire the woke rapper as the “special guest” on his national tour.That means the blame for Macklemore’s anti-Israel rant at MetLife Stadium last weekend isn’t his alone.Sheeran has demonstrated that he’s perfectly capable of speaking up when his concerts are associated with politics he dislikes.When he took leftist flak after performing for wounded Israeli soldiers in 2024, Sheeran went out of his way to complain about the “damaging” implication that he had played specifically for them.“A charity ..

.sourced tickets to my show in Cyprus last year, which was a large scale public concert,” Sheeran wrote defensively.“This sort of reporting is [divisive] and damaging, please research before you post things.”Yet it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Sheeran has remained silent after Macklemore repeatedly stood on his stage, denounced Israel, proclaimed “Free Palestine” and called a federal law-enforcement agency a “terrorist organization.”I’ve seen the damage of the rapper’s hateful diatribes up close.In September 2024, Macklemore headlined a festival called “Palestine Will Live Forever” in his native Seattle, where he infamously told the cheering crowd, “Yeah, f–k America.”The festival was held in Seward Park, in the heart of Washington state’s largest Jewish community, on the Jewish Sabbath — less than a year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.Loc...