Greta Thunberg has spoken out about the controversy surrounding Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour, following his decision to drop Macklemore as a supporting act.
The environmental activist criticized the Shape of You singer for a “lack of spine” after removing Macklemore from the Loop Tour.
Earlier this month, Sheeran and his team cut Macklemore from the lineup because of the rapper’s “free Palestine” remarks during two New Jersey shows.
The Swedish activist took to Instagram on Monday to say that Sheeran should be “held accountable.”
“Yes, Ed Sheeran should be held accountable for his lack of spine,” Thunberg told her 17 million followers.
“But remember that we must continually apply the same pressure to all those complicit in all genocides.”
Thunberg added that the “bigger your platform” and access to resources the “bigger your responsibility,” urging people to apply this to themselves and the “institutions we are part of,” calling for a “push for boycotts, sanctions and divestments.”
“If we, ourselves, are not stepping out of our comfort zones, we are not doing enough. Remember, silence is complicity, and you cannot be neutral in a genocide,” she concluded.
Sheeran addressed the incident during his first concert since the controversy during a performance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday night.
According to him, the pressure to remove Macklemore came from promoters and venue owners, including billionaire Robert Kraft.
The British singer-songwriter admitted that he never saw himself as an “activist musician” but has changed his perspective after being thrust into a debate about freedom of speech and “the most complex political issue on the planet”.
