r/Music • u/TheMirrorUS šŸ“°The Mirror US • Sep 14 '26

article Robert Kraft issues lengthy statement on Macklemore after rapper says NFL owner had him banned from

https://www.themirror.com/sport/american-football/robert-kraft-macklemore-sheeran-palestine-2024272
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u/CTRexPope Sep 14 '26

As someone who pays zero attention to Ed Sheeran. And basically forgot Macklemore existed, they could not have Barbra Streisanded this more.

I now am hyper aware of this. And Sheeran and all these other people are making themselves look terrible.

163

u/dndgoeshere Sep 14 '26

If I had Ed Sheeran's money and this happened to me I'd say, "Cool," then hold my concert on the roof of a parking garage instead and open with a fuckboy acoustic guitar cover of Testify by RATM. You can't buy publicity like this, and instead he just looks like a spineless boot licker.

19

u/InTheMorning_Nightss Sep 14 '26

Billionaires have an insane amount of power and influence given their network. Macklemore even calls it out in his post that he knows Ed Sheeran is in a fucked position.

Itā€™s easy for all of us to say: ā€œIf I had that wealth, Iā€™d be willing to risk tanking my career.ā€ But youā€™re asking a famous musician to jeopardize not only his wealth, but future creative endeavors.

Itā€™s pretty clear that Ed isnā€™t the bad guy here, and focusing on that is really missing the mark.

28

u/JEFFinSoCal Sep 15 '26

The existence of billionaires is incompatible with democracy. We fought a revolution to get out from under the boots of the aristocracy and then allowed them to flourish again.

Theyā€™re literally killing us by hoarding wealth, denying us basic healthcare, polluting our air and water, and denying us a roof over our heads.

I donā€™t see any of this ending well. Itā€™s already gone too far.

10

u/DLTMIAR Sep 15 '26

Ed isn't the bad guy, but also isn't a good guy and when it comes to genocide that kinda makes you the bad guy too

13

u/143cookiedough Sep 14 '26

100%. And itā€™s not just his money. Who knows how many people he is responsible for that help put on his tour. If it wasnā€™t for everyone else, Iā€™m sure heā€™d love to just call off the rest of the tour and head home.Ā 

12

u/jenny_cocksmasher Sep 14 '26

It's the classic trolley problem: He was willing to sacrifice Macklemore to save all the people working on the tour.

12

u/capron Sep 15 '26

No yeah this is actually it, he and his legal team considered how this affected all of his tour stops, and all of the people involved. Cancelling a tour costs so damned much money, both spent and to-be-spent dollars. Loss of revenue sucks for rich guy Ed, but it sucks harder for the local union workers who help assemble his shows if these billionaire owners blacklist him outright. There's the saying about how big ships take time to turn around, in this case Ed has to keep being "neutral" on the outside to get these people paid and not break millions of dollars worth of contracts. He can choose to burn bridges later, after his employees and the local unions aren't on the bridge. Or he can capitulate, IDK. Maybe he's a actually a dick, maybe he's not, but jumping to conclusions is the wrong play when there are hundreds of people's - and thousands of fans' -money at stake.

1

u/KombuchaBot Sep 17 '26

Yeah, well that problem solved itself as it turned out his band and backing acts had made up their own minds, and good for them