Ed Sheeran, Macklemore, and the politics of staying silent | BBC News

One of the most successful songwriters of all time is facing the biggest controversy of his nearly two decades in the public eye. Where does pop star Ed Sheeran go from here?

On Tuesday, every support act for Sheeran withdrew from his US stadium tour, following a decision to drop rapper Macklemore from the tour for his on-stage pro-Palestinian comments.

In a statement, Sheeran declined to take a political stance on Macklemore’s comments, and stressed that he was not responsible for the decision to remove the rapper from the roster. Is it possible for pop stars to stay out of the political fray?

We speak to BBC music correspondent Mark Savage about the controversy, and what it reveals about the conversion of pop culture and politics.

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Timecodes:

0:00 Macklemore’s speech on Ed Sheeran’s tour
1:19 Introduction to Mark Savage
2:29 What did Macklemore say exactly during the show?
5:56 How is Robert Kraft involved in this?
7:58 Macklemore’s prior career incidents
9:19 How did P!NK get involved?
11:24 Should Ed Sheeran have already been aware of Macklemore’s stance?
12:58 How has Ed Sheeran justified dropping Macklemore?
16:13 Is Ed Sheeran apolitical?
19:00 What has this controversy meant for Ed Sheeran’s reputation?
22:04 Asma and Tristan discuss freedom of speech

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