Monday 12th of October 2026
Home » Blogs » Gus Leonisky's blog

not john lennon... ed sheeran is a lemon....

 

Ed Sheeran says he has never wanted to be a political musician. He wants his concerts to be about “unity, not division” and “humanity, not politics.”

But after his tour became embroiled in controversy over the removal of rapper Macklemore, who publicly declared “Free Palestine” during Sheeran shows in New Jersey, Sheeran discovered that staying out of politics was no longer so simple.

 

Ed Sheeran Wants His Music to Be About Unity. But Silence Is Also a Political Choice

BY Joshua Scheer

 

Taking the stage at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday, Sheeran apologized and finally addressed the controversy directly.

“I am making mistakes, and I’m so, so sorry,” he told the crowd.

He went on to say that the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel as “horrific,” while describing what has happened in Gaza as “catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.”

“My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, children’s lives,” Sheeran said. He also condemned what he called “systemic injustice” in the occupied West Bank.

That was a significant departure from the position he had taken earlier in the controversy.

One could write volumes about a settler‑colonial state and the brutal, well‑documented abuses in the region — abuses that are overwhelmingly disproportionate because the far stronger party, Israel, wields its power without restraint. But Ed isn’t political, or so he says, which conveniently keeps him from having to know any of this.

Earlier Sheeran had previously said that the decision to remove Macklemore from the tour was made by the venues and promoter—not by him. The decision came after Macklemore publicly supported Palestine and performed a protest song accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. The performances prompted condemnation from pro-Israel advocacy groups.

The fallout was immediate. Other support acts reportedly withdrew from the remainder of Sheeran’s tour, including an Irish folk band that had been performing with him.

Sheeran insisted that his audiences do not come to his shows “to expect a political forum.”

But that argument has been difficult to sustain. Cleary musicians do not perform in a political vacuum. Their concerts take place in stadiums owned by corporations and billionaires, sponsored by companies, promoted by powerful entertainment firms and, increasingly, shaped by the political pressures surrounding who is allowed onstage and what artists are permitted to say.

And Sheeran himself has not always avoided politics.

He signed an open letter opposing Brexit and participated in a fundraising concert for humanitarian relief in Ukraine. Those actions make his sudden insistence that he is simply an apolitical musician look considerably more duplicacious or hypocritical.

And as Nate Bear lays out in his must‑read article, the music industry’s hypocrisy on this issue isn’t subtle — it’s blaring from the speakers. The Deafening Silence Of Rockstars On Palestine

The controversy exposes a truth performers hate to confront: you don’t get to choose whether politics enters the room. With Israel and Ukraine, politics doesn’t merely enter — it defines the walls, the air, the stage, leaving “apolitical” artists nowhere to hide.

Case in point: Sheeran now says he can no longer hide how he feels. “This is a humanitarian issue,” he said. “And I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore.”

Macklemore’s “Free Palestine” statements forced that question into the middle of Sheeran’s tour. The response from venues and promoters turned the controversy into something larger than a disagreement between musicians. It became a question of whose political speech is considered acceptable on a major concert stage—and whose is considered too dangerous for the business.

That admission may be the most important part of his statement.

Because whatever one thinks of Sheeran, Macklemore or the controversy surrounding their tour, the idea that artists can simply remove themselves from politics becomes harder to defend when the political consequences are already determining who gets to perform, which voices are welcomed and which are pushed off the stage.

Even Saturday Night Live seized on the contradiction.

In a weekend sketch, King Charles encountered Sheeran supposedly sitting on the fence over the war. Sheeran joked that he did not want to alienate his fans and suggested that, when it comes to conflicts, sometimes “the bravest thing you can do is say nothing at all.”

The joke works because the controversy has exposed the absurdity of that position.

No one can remain silent when injustice is at hand, and it is the height of privilege to do so. Even Pink deserves more credit on this. Maybe Ed can back up some of his own words by speaking more — and by having Macklemore as a special guest — since the venues he plays, and profits from, wouldn’t deny that request.

Silence may feel neutral to the person choosing it. But when powerful institutions are deciding which political voices are allowed on a stage, refusing to take a position does not keep politics out.

Sometimes it simply leaves the existing power structure unchallenged.

And that is precisely why the Sheeran–Macklemore controversy matters beyond pop music. It is not really about whether a concert should become a political rally. It is about what happens when an artist’s desire to remain “above politics” collides with a humanitarian catastrophe that millions of people believe demands a response — and with an entertainment industry increasingly willing to police that response.

https://scheerpost.com/2026/09/20/ed-sheeran-wants-his-music-to-be-about-unity-but-silence-is-also-a-political-choice/

 

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

 

 

neutered.....

 

By Council Estate Media

It’s been a problem for the longest time. Someone says something Zionists don’t like and they’re immediately cancelled. Even worse, it’s the type of cancel culture you’re not allowed to rage against, because the moment you do, you’re cancelled too. What’s more, you’re powerless because Zionists have the media and politicians on their side, and they have the expensive lawyers.

Of course, none of what I’ve just said is true. It’s an “antisemitic conspiracy theory,” even though we see it happening all the time.

Thankfully, people are waking up. The Ed Sheeran / Macklemore saga is a clear example of this. But it’s not enough to say you stand in solidarity with Macklemore. It’s not even enough to drop out of a tour in support of him and Gaza. You have to call out the Zionist control of our institutions, otherwise this problem just isn’t going away.

If you’re somehow not up to scratch on the whole Ed Sheeran thing, it goes like this: he dropped rapper Macklemore from his U.S. tour after pressure from Zionist Robert Kraft.

Kraft is a man who appears in the Epstein files, was twice caught on camera with prostitutes, donates heavily to the I.D.F., and even has a surveillance system inside his Gillette stadium that monitors the internet for criticism of Israel. I shit you not.

Ed Sheeran happens to be mates with Kraft and sang at his wedding to a woman who is 33 years younger than him, about 12 inches taller, and definitely didn’t marry for money. Sheeran calls Kraft “very sweet” and gushes that his was the first U.S. venue he performed at.

Sheeran has been mates with Macklemore for over 13 years. He was well aware of Macklemore’s advocacy for Palestine and knew he would use the stage to speak up. He invited him on tour because he thought he could milk both sides. He thought he could be the nice, reasonable guy who is very sad about the suffering on “both sides” and doesn’t get involved. He thought he could be seen as the unifier. It’s perverse. Morally, it’s no different from trying to unite Jews and Nazis, or black people and the KKK.

Sheeran was far too naive to understand that neither side was going to accept his fake neutrality. When it’s genocide versus non-genocide, you will always be asked to pick a side — and that’s exactly what Kraft made him do.

Billionaire Bans Support for Palestine

Kraft called Sheeran and said “drop Macklemore or else you can’t perform at my stadium.” He also got his billionaire buddies involved and they all said the same. In other words, a handful of Zionists decided that Macklemore is not allowed to advocate for Gaza on stage. And they decided that if Ed wants to keep him, his tour is over.

Zionists literally have the power to decide if one of the world’s biggest pop stars gets to tour, just like they get to decide who does journalism or TV presenting or acting or sports or post online. Excuse me, but who gave them this power? They ruin the lives of literally anyone who stands up to them.

But standing up to them is what we must do. It’s the only way we win. We need to collectively say “enough.” When they cancel us we must cancel them harder. We must boycott everything they’re associated with. Support for Zionism must be an immediate career ender, rather than opposition to Zionism.

Sheeran could and should have stood with his friend against genocide. Aside from anything else, he probably had the law on his side. Kraft would almost certainly have been in breach of contract, as would the other stadium owners, but Sheeran chickened out of the fight.

Sheeran decided it was easier to not upset Israel supporters, get on with his tour, ditch his friend, and let him be censored. This kind of behaviour not only enables censorship to continue, it enables genocide to continue.

Sheeran could have called the stadium owners’ bluff. He could have said “cancel this tour and I’ll sue you into oblivion and ensure the world knows what’s happening.” He could’ve used this as a moment of amplification for Gaza. The man’s worth a few hundred million quid. He could’ve taken the financial hit, paid his support acts, and come out a hero. Whatever path he chose, his tour was probably gonna be cancelled, but this way he’s haemorrhaging support.

It says everything that Zionists were being offered ticket refunds because of what Macklemore said on stage, but no one is being given a refund for the support acts dropping out. Only the feelings of one side count.

People who bought tickets can and should do a charge back through their bank. Let those stadiums be empty. It’s only what Sheeran and his Zionist mates deserve.

Silence Enables Genocide

Sheeran punished his mate under the pretence of neutrality and abandoned the Palestinians in their time of need. He even had the gall to say he has a different approach to peace. His approach is total silence.

A key reason why genocides happen is that not enough people take a stand. Sheeran chose to be an enabler. The man who says he doesn’t pick sides picked a side. He proved that being the nice guy is not the same as being the good guy.

Hilariously, one of his excuses was that he said he needs to pay his support acts. He was too dumb to realise that unlike him, his support acts really are Irish. They understand colonialism and will always stand against it. Every single one of those acts dropped out of the tour, including Sheeran’s own band.

Some of these acts are tiny and could really use the money, but they took the financial hit. What this shows is that we’re reaching a tipping point where people are no longer afraid of cancellation because they feel this too deeply. When you genuinely care, you will make a personal sacrifice.

Getting here is an important step, but it’s not the final step. The final step is reaching the point where no one has to make a sacrifice. Only then will we have won.

Just look at Sangita Myska and Nadia Sawalha — two British women who are starting their own podcast because they found themselves out of work after upsetting genocide supporters.

Many others have suffered the same fate, but even when people are cancelled by Zionists, they seem terrified to address the core issue: Zionists control everything from our media to our financial institutions to our politicians.

It’s not good enough to say it’s unfair that Macklemore or whoever is dropped. We have to say that it’s completely unacceptable that Zionists are in control. We need to say it’s totally wrong for them to debank their critics like Mint Press News, or drop movie stars like Melissa Barrera, or sack T.V. stars like Gary Lineker, or coerce our politicians into treating grannies in wheelchairs as terrorists or take over TikTok to hide the truth about Israel’s war crimes.

We need to make it loud and clear that we will not let genocide supporters decide what speech is acceptable. Until we are prepared to highlight the Zionism problem, the cancellation will only continue.

This article is from Council Estate Media by Ricky, a Website promoting working class politics and anti-imperialism with over 34,000 subscribers

https://consortiumnews.com/2026/09/18/macklemore-zionists-gatekeeping-speech/

 

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

 

 

 

them celebs....

 

It’s Good To Bully Celebrities About Palestine

I strongly disagree with the idea that it’s unhelpful to bully celebrities about their position on Palestine. On the contrary, I think we should bully them more.

Caitlin Johnstone

 

I strongly disagree with the idea that it’s unhelpful to bully celebrities about their position on Palestine. On the contrary, I think we should bully them more.

We tend to underestimate the consequences of the fact that all the most amplified voices in our society are millionaires. Under capitalism the people with the largest platforms and the biggest audiences are all wealthy enough to have a vested interest in preserving the status quo, so they’re reluctant to rock the boat politically in any major way.

When all the most influential voices in our society are creating the illusion that the system is more or less fine the way it is by what they say and what they don’t say, it cannot help but significantly influence public political opinion. In this way celebrities function as a kind of goalkeeper preventing dissident thought from reaching the minds of the masses.

When you see Ed Sheeran bawling his eyes out onstage and playing victim because people are criticizing his muteness on the moral issue of our time, he genuinely does feel as though something is being taken away from him. He was enjoying being able to relax in the lap of luxury without having to go against the grain of establishment power in any way, never saying anything which upsets the Zionist billionaires or the media-owning class whose infrastructure he built his lucrative career on. Now that comfortable setup has been taken away from him a bit, and he feels victimized by the inconvenience this has caused him.

This dynamic is what holds the entire construct of celebrity in place in our society. If you make the billionaires happy you get to be a millionaire, and if you make the billionaires unhappy you get discomfort and loss. If you please the plutocrats you get the carrot, and if you displease them you get the stick. This is true whether you’re talking about pundits, news anchors, musicians or movie stars.

This system of carrots and sticks is the main adhesive holding the propaganda apparatus of the western empire together. As westerners we are taught that we live in a free society which is far superior to the “tyrannical regimes” of the global south, because under the tyrannical regimes the news is state propaganda and the entertainment is heavily censored. In reality westerners are consuming tightly controlled propaganda every day of their lives, because all their most influential voices are being aggressively regulated by the carrots and sticks of wealthy capitalists.

The only weakness in this system, apparently, is that it only works if the public plays along with it. If enough people decide to denounce and defund the empire’s celebrity goalkeepers for their complicity in imperial abuses, it turns out that we’ve got a stick of our own. Make it too uncomfortable to toe the imperial line and you’ll start seeing celebrities reluctantly follow the moral leadership of the public, thereby further weakening the vice-like grip of the imperial narrative control apparatus on our collective consciousness.

So we should do so happily and without hesitation. It is perfectly moral to ruin a millionaire’s day for both-sidesing a genocide. It is perfectly ethical to bully people with large platforms until they take a public stand against the abuses of the empire which has made them obscenely wealthy. It won’t solve all our problems, but it will weaken the power of the mass-brainwashing machine of the capitalist empire which has been manipulating the public into believing we don’t urgently need revolutionary change.

__________________

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you feel inspired. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley. No AI in any works.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/09/23/its-good-to-bully-celebrities-about-palestine/

 

READ FROM TOP.

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

 

 SEE ALSO: 

humanitarian destruction of people, countries and nations....