Ed Sheeran/Macklemore

[WallyHilloughby]

what are your thoughts on this whole debacle?
quite frankly I’m sick and tired of artists using concerts etc as some political forum

Flippant. Are you for real?

I posted about 18 men shot from behind as they bent over. The pp posted about actions on one day that killed one sixtieth of the amount murdered since October 7th. Is that a genocide I don't know it hasn't been investigated as such but so many agencies have spoken about the Genocide in Gaza.

Or is it only a victim in certain cases.

Oh and "some Israeli politicians" have said genocidal rhetoric and actually carried through on the starvation, displacement and murder .But they obviously get a pass.

“Right to exist” is a political slogan, not law. The legal question is self-determination, which Palestinians are entitled to and which the ICJ has found Israel's occupation unlawfully obstructs.

it is nothing like Russia and Ukraine.

I’m more shocked Ed Sheeran had him as a support act after this ‘Jew-face’ performance from a few years back. If it were blackface he’d have rightly been cancelled and wouldn’t even have been in the running for this tour. Racism is racism.

“Flippant”

UN Commission of Inquiry — "Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip" (Sept 2025)
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/israel-has-committed-genocide-in-the-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds-16sep25/
• UN Commission of Inquiry — follow-up report on deliberate targeting of children (June 2026)
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167790
• ICJ — South Africa v. Israel (case 192, ongoing)
https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192
• Amnesty International — "You Feel Like You Are Subhuman": Israel's Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza (Dec 2024)
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/
• Human Rights Watch — "Extermination and Acts of Genocide": Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water (Dec 2024)
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/19/israels-crime-extermination-acts-genocide-gaza
• Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur — "Anatomy of a Genocide" (A/HRC/55/73, March 2024)
https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4060409
• International Association of Genocide Scholars — Resolution on the Situation in Gaza (Aug 2025)
https://www.transcend.org/tms/?p=302370
• B'Tselem — "Our Genocide" (July 2025)
https://www.fidh.org/en/region/north-africa-middle-east/israel-palestine/b-tselem-and-physicians-for-human-rights-israel-israel-is-committing
• Human Rights Watch — World Report 2026: Israel and Palestine
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026/country-chapters/israel-and-palestine

No, they do not get a pass, which is why I mentioned them, but there is a difference between the government having an official policy (like Hamas') and members of that government making statements.

And yes, the comment was flippant. It was a tit for tat attempt to undermine a previous poster, using the deaths of those men, not a serious statement that you believed that their deaths constituted a genocide, as clarified in your response.

Lots of people saying something doesn't make it true, especially when they are all referencing the same core information.

I don't know enough about the incident to know whether or not its true, the only evidence I can find is a testiminy by one women in Al Jazeera (which doesn't 100% line up your post) but Israel has begun its investigations into any alleged crimes committed during the war, and rightly so.

Oh he's a peach isn't he. Had never heard of him. Happy to never hear of him again.

Yes, the way the word genocide was used was flippant and not because the poster believed that incident was a genocide, as they then clarified.

Please see comment above on the reports/statements. Lots of links saying the same conclusion but undermined by opinion, unverifiable evidence, changing definitions, and the long standing antisemitism of some of those involved does not prove there was a genocide. To be proven a court must properly assess the evidence.

Did you see the video posted by Ben-Gvir on social media recently - a AI-generated video of Palestinian detainees entering a fenced facility on a conveyor belt and emerging emaciated and crying?

I’m sure the Israeli’s own investigation into its own crimes is going to be very thorough…

No but, again, he does not get a pass and should be criticised and investigated.

They have already determined that some incidents met the criminal threshold and begun proceedings. It is standard that a country investigates its own actions and only if it is perceived that they have not been able to do so, do international bodies step in.

Again flippant and now deflecting. And yes, many of those have displayed antisemitism and that has undermined any public faith in them and what they are allegedly trying to do.

It appears that you are unable, or unwilling, to engage in an evidenced based discussion but instead are choosing to throw around claims to shock and distract people, which, like the original flippant comment about genocide, doesn't help determine what has actually happened.

So they can determine what happened.

do you believe Israel’s response to the awful massacre of October 7th was proportionate?

Ed Sheeran should decide who his support acts are, not promoters. As should all musicians.

And if he had done the simple research that the person who showed a photo at 2207 hours yesterday, there is no way Ed Sheeran would have accepted him on a support act.

Wanting to not display or promote political choices at a gig is valid, just do some basic research. Takes less time than Ed Sheeran spends watching his favourite football team.

I thought USA prides themselves on free speech so this is quite the contradiction.

Totally agree with you. I was at a festival last weekend. Incredibly depressing to see loads of bright young things who've come to dance and enjoy themselves cheering the usual Hamas approved slogans. Nova festival, what Nova festival?

No, making unevidenced claims of atrocities to deflect does not allow people to make a reasoned and informed judgement.

I don't know. I'm not a military, or legal expert. From what I've seen there were times the IDF were exceptionally cautious and did more than other armies have in the past and there were times when they were nowhere near cautious enough, but without the outcome of the ongoing forensic investigations, its not possible to come to a reasoned answer.

Ok. Let’s ask another question that you can have an informed judgement on.

Is Israel justified in its proposed bid for the creation of the E1 settlements on Palestinian territory?

What makes you assume I could have an informed opinion on this? I'm not a legal expert on this matter and don't know anything beyond the headlines (and only from a UK perspective).

Ok cool.

So you are unable to form an opinion. Makes the discussion a bit null and void.

Only on complex matters I know little about. Macklemore dressing up as a caricature of a Jew, I can easily determine is antisemitic.

Evidence based discussion.but yet I'm using shock and distraction when I give evidence

Pick an insult better

Sheer racism, if he had done black face he would have been condemned by everyone.

I think you make a (albeit inadvertently) valid observation about the challenge in forming a solid opinion. I suspect most people view this via the prism of money talks. Specifically, if Hamas had the might (noun) of Israel, we'd be seeing the same scenario but in reverse.

Ed Sheeran's statement was on point - concerts shouldn't be political forums, that isn't what people have paid to attend. I don't think this will do his career any harm (nor should it).

People are free to speak, people aren’t obliged to listen. Jews aren’t obliged to enable anti-semites. Theres nothing stopping him from performing anywhere else.

Not an insult.

You haven't provided evidence, you have made claims. That isn't the same thing, unless you are saying you are providing a first hand account (i.e. you witnessed or experienced them yourself)?