Dropkick Murphys‘ frontman Ken Casey has weighed in after Macklemore was forced off Ed Sheeran‘s tour for decrying the genocide being waged on Palestinians whilst onstage.
Sheeran’s upcoming ‘Loop’ shows are now without a single opening act after Macklemore was dropped from the tour over his impassioned “free Palestine” speech made while opening for Sheeran at New Jersey’s Gillette Stadium.
The speech prompted calls for his removal from figures like Pink and the Israeli American Council, and Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft later said he found Macklemore’s speech “deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community”, resulting in his dismissal.
Since then, all of Sheeran’s support acts and backing band have dropped out of the tour, with FINNEAS, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe and Beoga all making statements supporting Macklemore.
In a recent interview with Boston Public Radio, Casey joined them in backing Macklemore. “I know that, as a musician for 30 years, anytime we’ve gone on tour we’ve selected the bands that have opened for us – that’s brotherhood, sisterhood, that’s family,” he said. “You live or die with the people you bring on the road. They’re your people.
@bostonpublicradio Frontman of the Dropkick Murphys Ken Casey joined Boston Public Radio this week to share his thoughts on the situation surrounding Ed Sheeran, Macklemore and Robert Kraft. #boston #news @Dropkick Murphys
♬ original sound – Boston Public Radio
“And the fact that Ed Sheeran took the knee, no matter what the cause is, and not stood with his fellow tour partner, just doesn’t, you know, sit right with me. And that’s not how Dropkick Murphys would operate.”
Using himself as an example, he noted that he’s long been a vocal critic of the Trump administration, and during a slot at Rocklahoma Festival, he had “said what we have to say onstage every night”, prompting “probably about 50 per cent of the audience” to walk away.
“And I was told immediately afterwards that angered the owner of the site, and I’m sure we won’t get invited back. However, he said standing up for his beliefs remained the most important thing. “All the artists I loved as a kid, no matter what, it was that they stand by what they sing about,” he said.
“Once you let that go, then you don’t have any worth in your music if you ask me.”
Sheeran has spoken out about the situation, saying he was “not complicit” and was “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine” and sees the “suffering and pain caused on both sides” as a “tragedy”.
He’s since lost over 200,000 Instagram followers, while Macklemore has gained over 1.6million.
Meanwhile, former Sheeran support acts BIIRD and Myles Smith also came out in support of rapper Macklemore. Irish trad-folk band BIIRD wrote that “we stand unequivocally behind every word [Macklemore] said,” while Smith said that “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.”
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters waded into the debate to call Sheeran a “little prick” while praising Macklemore for doing “the right thing”, and Massive Attack also spoke on the controversy: “’Neutrality’ in the face of the slaughter of more than 20,000 children can never be neutrality”.
Sheeran is yet to respond to his support acts pulling out and these comments.
Elsewhere, Macklemore donated his entire $1million earnings from the tour to Palestinians – with Kraft matching with $2million to “aid in the region”.
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters waded into the debate to call Sheeran a “little prick” while praising Macklemore for doing “the right thing”, and Massive Attack also spoke on the controversy: “’Neutrality’ in the face of the slaughter of more than 20,000 children can never be neutrality”.