For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, I envy you. But let me fill you in.

Ed Sheeran is on tour, and Macklemore was one of his opening acts. At an early September concert in New Jersey, Macklemore debuted his set in which he performed “Hind’s Hall”. He had written the song in support of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)’s occupation of said building at the university.

We have talked about CUAD before. They are most famous for endorsing a member’s claim that all Zionists deserve to die. A great group to hitch your wagon to.

During Macklemore’s performance, he showed images of the destruction in Gaza. He also led the crowd in a “Free Palestine” chant.

This resulted in him getting booted from the tour, which then resulted in a moral outcry from a large number of famous people, including the other openers for Ed Sheeran, who left the tour in support of Macklemore.

You are now up to speed. I am sorry to make you aware of this very annoying situation.

This is a mess. It is a giant mess. It is making the news all over the goddamn place, and everyone and their mother seems to be talking about it.

Most people are approaching this from a moral standpoint. People on one side are saying that it was morally wrong to remove Macklemore from the tour because he was speaking out about human rights violations, which is noble. It is indicative of moral rot to ban such a noble activity that has the potential to help people in crisis. (Theoretically.)

People on the other side are saying that it was morally wrong for Macklemore to include “Hind’s Hall”, the “Free Palestine” chant, and the images of destruction in Gaza in his set because he was causing harm to Jews in attendance. Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of Gilette Stadium and spokesperson of the campaign to remove Macklemore from the tour, even called his set hate speech.

I do not agree with either side here. I do not think this is a moral issue.

To me, it just seems like a bunch of people did their jobs really badly. Ed Sheeran, who has historically been apolitical and has reiterated this during Macklemore-gate, should never have hired Macklemore as an opener. Macklemore is a political performer. This just seems like a terrible fit.

And Macklemore also did his job dreadfully. He was meant to support Ed Sheeran. That was his job as an opener. He instead came in with his own agenda without any regard for the context of his performance. This shows poor professional judgment.

And so, there are consequences. No shit.

To me, the issue comes down to context. It’s not about whether Macklemore should be able to have a platform and share his views and advocacy. It’s about the context in which he, or anybody else, should be able to do that.

For instance, you probably shouldn’t go into a child birthing class and pull up a slideshow of the destruction in Gaza. It’s simply not appropriate. Whether or not pulling up that slideshow is moral or immoral, this is not the time or the place. This is not the audience for your advocacy, and you would surely be fired from your position as child birthing teacher.

It’s just so clear to me that this is an issue of professional judgment rather than morality. So yesterday, when I started seeing everyone on the planet come out in support of Macklemore, as if he were some martyr for justice, and in opposition to Ed Sheeran, as if he were David Duke, I started unraveling.

This just seems to be another example of our culture becoming more and more polarized because people are drawn to extremes, and social media is enabling this harmful human impulse. We need to challenge those around us to move away from extremes and acknowledge nuance. But it looks to me like the issue is just getting worse, and this time, it’s got some antisemitism mixed in.

For instance, let me share with you some of the things that Ed Sheeran’s house band said when they announced their withdrawal from the tour. I’m going to give you a content warning for antisemitism here.

The band said, and I quote, “We have made the decision to depart as Ed Sheeran’s band on the remaining US Loop tour, following the silencing of Macklemore by zionist lobbies.” Later in their statement, they said, “It’s important for everyone to know that the real enemy is the zionist lobby.”

I've heard a lot of people ignore the details and support everyone, including this band, in their fight for "justice" and against Ed Sheeran.

But the details are important. This band has invoked an evil, all-powerful "zionist lobby". They are not on the right side of history.

If you need me, I’ll be over here trying not to unravel any more than I already have. Please feel free to respond with any thoughts or vents.

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