Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said she’ll be changing the channel if singer Ed Sheeran comes on the radio, and criticized stadium owners of Sheeran’s tour for censoring “genocide in Gaza.”
“We need to be very clear about how dangerous a precedent this is,” Ocasio-Cortez told TMZ Tuesday.
The controversy stems from a promoter’s decision to remove rapper Macklemore from Sheeran’s tour. Macklemore was dropped from the remaining U.S. dates of Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour after saying “free Palestine” onstage at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
All remaining opening acts, Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham, Beoga, and the touring band, have pulled themselves from the tour.
During a Sept. 4 speech, Macklemore said he wanted people in Gaza and the “occupied West Bank” to know they had not been forgotten. His remarks prompted backlash and a petition from the Israeli American Council calling for his removal from the tour.
Sheeran and Macklemore posted statements on Instagram about the decision, both referring to pushback from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. The Kraft Group owns Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Macklemore and Sheeran were slated to perform later this month.
“Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium,” Macklemore said on Instagram Monday. “Ed also told me that Kraft rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”
Sheeran responded to the backlash on Tuesday.
“Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine. Macklemore’s contract for the tour was with the promoter, not me,” Sheeran said in a statement on Instagram Tuesday.
“I spoke with the venues at length all week to try and build a bridge. One of those people was Robert Kraft,” Sheeran said. “I was also involved in direct talks with promoters along with carrots on both sides to try and find a mutual resolution for all, but the venue’s and promoter’s decision was final.”
Sheeran emphasized the “suffering and pain caused on both sides,” but maintained he is not implicated.
ED SHEERAN RESPONDS TO BACKLASH OVER MACKLEMORE REMOVAL: ‘I AM NOT COMPLICIT’
“When you see what Robert Kraft did, to line up all of the stadiums, to censor speech in that one specific way, it’s become clear that this is not just about one music artist, or two music artists, but this is about how just a handful of stadium owners and the elite can prevent an entire massive issue, in this case, the genocide in Gaza,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Ocasio-Cortez maintained she has “empathy for the situation,” and said that Sheeran “plays a role,” but that the focus needs to be on Kraft.