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Ed Sheeran walked onto a big stage<\/a> at Lincoln Financial Field Saturday night with nothing but his guitar to support him. Surrounded by tens of thousands of fans, a massive global pop star may have never felt so all alone.<\/p>\n Sheeran knew he couldn\u2019t hit his first note without addressing everything that had happened in the last few days: the dropping of hip-hop\u2019s Macklemore <\/a>from his U.S. football-stadium tour after onstage comments supporting a free Palestine riled one team owner, and the massive backlash<\/a> that had turned a pop festival into a solo gig. <\/p>\n That\u2019s how an artist who\u2019s sold more than 200 million records and became one of Time\u2019s 100 most influential people<\/a> in the world by mostly avoiding politics could no longer avoid politics. He condemned both the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas but also Israel\u2019s deadly three-year response<\/a> in Gaza, which he called \u201ccatastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate\u201d \u2014 essentially the same sentiment that got Macklemore cancelled.<\/p>\n That will be the headline in most news articles, but as I watched the viral video<\/a> Saturday night I was wondering if Sheeran would tackle the other elephant in the room. He did.<\/p>\n \u201cI am deeply worried about the idea that venues should pre-approve content for performers,\u201d Sheeran proclaimed in his native Yorkshire accent. \u201cThis happens in so many places around the world, but it should never happen in the free world.\u201d<\/p>\n The performer\u2019s words drew a big whoop from the assembled multitude who showed up despite a week of controversy that had seen Sheeran\u2019s backing band and all of his opening acts quit<\/a> in protest over Macklemore\u2019s ouster while online ticket prices tumbled<\/a>.<\/p>\n But just a couple blocks away at the headquarters of the Philadelphia Eagles, the only sound Saturday was crickets chirping.<\/p>\n The main antagonist that triggered the dropping of Macklemore was indisputably New England Patriots owner and Donald Trump<\/a> pal Robert Kraft<\/a>, who called it \u201chate speech\u201d when Macklemore donned a keffiyeh, shouted \u201cFree Palestine!,\u201d and performed his song \u201cHind\u2019s Hall\u201d<\/a> about 2024\u2019s pro-Palestinian campus protesters at New Jersey\u2019s MetLife Stadium earlier this month. Kraft moved to block Macklemore<\/a> from performing at the Patriots\u2019 Gillette Stadium and reportedly rallied other NFL stadium operators to lean on Sheeran\u2019s tour operator.<\/p>\n But while the Eagles and their longtime owner Jeffrey Lurie<\/a> weren\u2019t lead actors in this drama, the operators of the city-of-Philadelphia-owned Linc are said to have played a critical supporting role.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal<\/a> and other outlets identified Lurie as one of a gaggle of owners who agreed with Kraft and supported throwing a crackback block on Macklemore. Lurie, who has seen his $185 million 1994 purchase of the Birds skyrocket to a value of more than $10 billion<\/a>, was identified by the WSJ as part of a group that also included Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons and David Tepper of the Carolina Panthers who agreed to support the rapper\u2019s cancelation.<\/p>\n The Eagles\u2019 reported involvement in this story troubled me for two reasons. One, of course, was the action itself. Sheeran \u2014 whatever else you think about how he handled this mess \u2014 was 100% right when he declared this \u201cnever should happen in the free world.\u201d But even worse, it happened in what should be a planetary mecca for free expression<\/a> \u2014 Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration of Independence was written and ratified exactly 250 years ago.<\/p>\n But honestly, I found it even more disturbing that neither Lurie nor anyone from the Eagles organization feels they owe any explanation at all to the city, let alone thousands of people who drained their bank accounts for a concert that was nothing like it had been advertised. To be sure, there\u2019s no harder dialogue in the world than the conflict in the Middle East, but the Birds committed two penalties against open expression \u2014 one of alleged censorship, and one of their own public silence.<\/p>\n On Thursday, I texted Bob Lange, the Eagles\u2019 senior vice president for communications, with questions about Lurie\u2019s reported role<\/a> in collaborating with Kraft and for a clarification on what their policies are around free speech at football games, concerts, and other events that take place at the stadium they operate.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we have anything to share, we will let you know,\u201d Lange responded.<\/p>\n Three days later, I am still staring at the pale glare of my iPhone here in my darkened column-writing lair, wondering if I can get up to at least make some toast, lest I miss the Birds\u2019 response. OK, that was a joke. I didn\u2019t really expect the Eagles to explain their involvement, at least not voluntarily.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve come to expect this in 2026 \u2014 whether it\u2019s government officials signing non-disclosure agreement<\/a> with companies building hideous data centers, or police chiefs making secret deals with ICE and telling public dissenters they are sick of \u201clistening to this crap<\/a>,\u201d or all-powerful Fortune 500 corporations channeling the spirit of the Irish Republican Army: \u201cSay nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n The public\u2019s right-to-know is probably a hilarious joke these days behind the locked doors of city council executive sessions and penthouse corporate boardrooms.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s be clear: Lincoln Financial Field is a public edifice, full stop, We, as city and state taxpayers, contributed $188 million<\/a> to build the Linc back in 2003, and the city owns the stadium<\/a>, leasing it to the Eagles for them to host and profit from games and concerts. The team should be compelled to explain why it\u2019s not a violation of the First Amendment to bar a performing artist from presenting a legitimate political viewpoint here. The Birds\u2019 silence on this is a deafening roar.<\/p>\n Maybe they\u2019re channeling the spirit of the late, great Chuck Bednarik<\/a>, but the Eagles are a two-way player when it comes to the question of whether they are a cherished public good in Philadelphia, or just another unaccountable multi-billion-dollar corporation.<\/p>\n The team certainly implied that it\u2019s a civic institution with its most famous ad campaign \u2014 \u201cOne Team, One City, One Dream,<\/a>\u201d rolled out as the Birds drove toward the Super Bowl<\/a> in 2004-05, its second year at the Linc. The Eagles and their in-house PR machine and a vast network of friendly influencers and websites produce a massive flow of information<\/a>, but it\u2019s a one-way street. The Macklemore debacle suggests an organization that wants all the benefits that flow from being a public institution, but none of the responsibilities.<\/p>\n Yet the concert controversy also felt jarring here in Philly because for most of the last decade the Eagles have earned a reputation as one of the better franchises in the NFL for free expression \u2014 an admittedly low bar in the Colin Kaepernick era<\/a>. On their way to a championship during the 2017 season, Lurie and the front office supported All-Pro safety Malcolm Jenkins<\/a> and others who raised fists and locked arms during the Star Spangled Banner to protest racial injustice. <\/p>\n Right before the Super Bowl in 2018, the Nation\u2019s sportswriter Dave Zirin made \u201cThe Progressive Case for the Philadelphia Eagles (Seriously).\u201d <\/a>Yet the reality is that the Eagles have supported free expression when it supports their incessant branding operation.<\/p>\n But the essence of free speech is to allow its most wildly imperfect avatars. None more so than Macklemore, who was guilty of either antisemitism or remarkable ignorance when he donned a bearded, hook-nosed mask at a 2014 concert<\/a>. That appears to be an isolated instance for which he has since apologized. The views that Kraft described as \u201chate speech\u201d \u2014 criticizing the military actions of Israel\u2019s right-wing government in Gaza and backing Palestinian liberation and the right of U.S. students to hold demonstrations to express their feelings \u2014 are supported by a majority of Americans<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not that popularity matters when it comes to principle.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: I nearly quit watching the NFL. The humanity of Malcolm Jenkins and Chris Long brought me back | Will Bunch<\/a><\/p>\n And most people, myself included, don\u2019t have a problem when the team bans any and all political expressions in the stands during a game, since banners or noisy protests would mar the experience that fans paid to see. And it\u2019s worth noting that the Eagles\u2019 best-known enforcement of this, involving a certain South Jersey politico<\/a>, happened when they barred him from waving a pro-Israel flag.<\/p>\n Political expression by performing artists is very different. From blasting the cops on Sunset Strip<\/a> to fighting the powers that be<\/a>, protest is the essence of every musical genre from rock to hip-hop to country, and the Eagles have made millions of dollars in concert fees off of that.<\/p>\n Of course, Kraft\u2019s ham-handed cancelation of Macklemore that infected the Eagles wasn\u2019t just a personal foul against free speech, but wildly counter-productive. It triggered a boisterous pre-concert protest<\/a> outside the Linc, forced Sheeran to denounce Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza, and prompted an outpouring of support for Palestine from the likes of rocker Dave Matthews, who waved a \u201cSTOP GENOCIDE<\/a>\u201d placard at his concert stops.<\/p>\n If the Streisand Effect<\/a> means amplifying a rumor by denying it, then spreading a protest by trying to crush it needs to be called the Kraft Effect.<\/p>\n In addition to censorship and secrecy, another hallmark of the 2020s is insanely profitable sports franchises demanding new stadiums<\/a> when their current home would be barely old enough to drink. The Eagles recently announced they\u2019re exploring the possibility of a new stadium<\/a> when their lease expires in 2032 \u2014 even though the Linc was considered state-of-the-art when it opened just 23 years ago \u2014 and politicians like Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a> are already working to make sure the team stays in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n Imagine if some of our political leaders got a spine transplant and \u2014 instead of throwing incentives at the Eagles like they were Mardi Gras beads \u2014 demanded a free-speech policy that would ensure something like the Macklemore debacle never happens again. If the Birds want to build a $2 billion censorship palace, they can spend their own money.<\/p>\n But they shouldn\u2019t do that. Instead, the Eagles need to embrace the idea that you can\u2019t have \u201cOne Team. One City. One Dream\u201d without a multitude of voices.<\/p>\n