{"id":642707,"date":"2026-10-02T14:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T14:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/642707\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T14:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T14:26:09","slug":"cmat-says-ed-sheeran-identifying-as-irish-made-macklemore-situation-worse-for-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/642707\/","title":{"rendered":"CMAT says Ed Sheeran ‘identifying as Irish’ made Macklemore situation worse for him"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Daily Show<\/a> \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

CMAT HAS SAID Ed Sheeran \u201cidentifying as Irish\u201d contributed to criticism against him last month after rapper Macklemore was dropped from his tour after voicing support for Palestinians.<\/p>\n

All of Sheeran\u2019s support acts, including two Irish acts,\u00a0pulled out in solidarity<\/a> with the US rapper after\u00a0he was dropped from the tour. Sheeran later admitted he made \u201cmistakes\u201d<\/a> and condemned the \u201ccatastrophic\u201d situation in Gaza.<\/p>\n

English-born Sheeran has regularly spoken about his Irish heritage and last year told The Louis Theroux Podcast that he considers \u201cmy culture as Irish\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While featuring\u00a0on US late-night talk show The Daily Show on Thursday night, CMAT was asked by host Jordan Klepper about the controversy.<\/p>\n

CMAT said that she thinks Sheeran \u201cwas given really bad advice\u201d, adding that famous people can often be surrounded by people who make money off them and want to \u201cuphold the capital value of their artistic product\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hot take is that I actually feel bad for the guy because I don\u2019t think he knew what he was getting himself into,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Co Meath singer said that part of Sheeran\u2019s problem was that he \u201cstarted identifying as Irish recently\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a man who surrounded himself with Irish people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted to identify as being Irish, he wanted to reconnect with his Irish heritage, he wanted that to be part of his personal brand and music. He hired all these amazing Irish musicians and was supporting Irish musicians.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem then is if something like the issue of what I would refer to as a genocide happens, Irish people are going to hold you to account for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that many artists are \u201cdoing much worse than him\u201d but aren\u2019t being held to account by people around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people that aren\u2019t saying or doing anything to help the Palestinian people are not getting it in the neck because they refuse to be surrounded by people who would make that issue for them,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The singer previously\u00a0called on artists to stop \u201csitting on the fence\u201d<\/a> after winning the Ivor Novello Award for best album in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no time, sympathy or empathy for anybody that decides to make life more difficult for people who are just trying to live, and that\u2019s what this record is about,\u201d she said at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CMAT performed the song Euro-Country from her 2025 album of the same name while appearing on The Daily Show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thursday night\u2019s wide-ranging interview\u00a0also touched on the 2008 recession, as well as Irish peoples\u2019 love for funerals and country music.<\/p>\n

When Klepper asked why the Irish are so fond of country music, CMAT laughed and said: \u201cI think\u2026 depression\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso we love stories and we love storytelling,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s something in the psyche that really likes to read and hear a story and listen to somebody talk about something from a very specific point of view,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The artist also said \u201cfuneral humour\u201d is a big part of her songwriting process.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know when you\u2019re at a funeral, and it\u2019s the worst thing ever and you\u2019re absolutely devastated, and then somebody farts. I kind of think that\u2019s what songwriting is,\u201d she laughed, adding that humour can be a route people use to cope.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be the type of musician who doesn\u2019t say anything and doesn\u2019t have anything to say,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m a very loud, gobby and opinionated ginger woman. If I wasn\u2019t expressing myself through music I\u2019d be lying, but at the same time I don\u2019t want to be standing on a soap box every single show.\u201d<\/p>\n

CMAT said she likes to express her views in an accessible format by putting them into music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Daily Show \/ YouTube CMAT HAS SAID Ed Sheeran \u201cidentifying as Irish\u201d contributed to criticism against him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,893,8720,93,61,60,264671,278,4268,59668],"class_list":["post-642707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-cmat","tag-ed-sheeran","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-macklemore","tag-music","tag-palestine","tag-the-daily-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}