{"id":679060,"date":"2026-11-09T00:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T00:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/679060\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T00:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T00:52:13","slug":"u2-weigh-in-on-ed-sheeran-and-macklemore-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/679060\/","title":{"rendered":"U2 weigh in on Ed Sheeran and Macklemore controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U2&#8217;s world-famous drummer Larry Mullen Jr has said that &#8216;no promoter and no owner&#8217; should ever try to &#8216;censor&#8217; artists &#8211; as the band weigh in on the Ed Sheeran and Macklemore controversy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September, Macklemore was dropped on Ed Sheeran&#8217;s US &#8216;Loop Tour&#8217; over his &#8216;Free Palestine&#8217; comments \u2013 with the owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, Robert Kraft, also making a statement in response at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Promoters subsequently removed the rapper from the tour, prompting Ed&#8217;s backing band and remaining support acts, including Finneas, Lukas Graham and Beoga, to withdraw in solidarity.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/GettyImages-105464151.jpg\" alt=\"Bono and the corrs\" class=\"wp-image-1902219\"  \/>Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. of U2 with (front) Jim Corr, Andrea Corr, Caroline Corr and Sharon Corr of The Corrs (Photo by KMazur\/WireImage)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ed later denied being complicit in the decision, explaining that he wanted his concerts to remain places of safety and sanctuary rather than political forums.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now U2 has given their thoughts on the row, saying Ed Sheeran shouldn&#8217;t be &#8216;vilified.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to BBC News, The Edge showered <a href=\"https:\/\/evoke.ie\/2026\/10\/27\/entertainment\/celebrity\/macklemore-first-free-palestine-gig\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Macklemore<\/a> with his support &#8211; but defended Ed against the criticism he has received in the aftermath.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said: &#8216;We totally support Macklemore\u2019s right as an artist to say what he wanted to say.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/U2-red.jpg\" alt=\"U2 red\" class=\"wp-image-1822232\"  \/>Ali Hewson, musicians Bono and The Edge of U2 and choreographer Morleigh Steinberg. Pic: David Livingston\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8216;I don\u2019t think Ed should be vilified,&#8217; he added, acknowledging the difficult position the singer had faced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drummer<a href=\"https:\/\/extra.ie\/2026\/09\/29\/entertainment\/celebrity\/mullen-paralysis-risk-u2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Larry Mullen Jr<\/a> said that he believed artists &#8216;can choose whether they want to be politically active or not,&#8217; before adding: &#8216;It\u2019s a human right.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8216;But we as a band will fight for the right to speak your mind as long as it doesn\u2019t incite violence. And even if we disagree with it or don\u2019t like it, nobody has a right \u2013 no billionaire, no promoter, no owner has the right to censor anybody. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8216;But they will definitely not be censoring us ever,&#8217; he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U2&#8217;s world-famous drummer Larry Mullen Jr has said that &#8216;no promoter and no owner&#8217; should ever try to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-679060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679060","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=679060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}