Sheeran is one of the most successful songwriters of all time. He has sold more than 120 million records and spent more than 1,000 weeks on the US album charts.
Part of his appeal – apart from those insidiously catchy songs – is his everyman persona. He looks and dresses like a fan on the train home from Glastonbury, rather than one of the festival’s headliners.
He has carefully cultivated a non-threatening, everyone welcome public image. In 2014, he donated his entire wardrobe to charity shops. The same year, he adopted a one-month-old kitten, saving it from euthanasia, and named it Graham. Today, he runs a charity providing music lessons to under-18s in his home county of Suffolk.
He tries to stay out of politics – usually only getting involved to campaign for issues like copyright protection and ticket touting, or to raise concerns over the impact of Brexit on touring musicians.
But like most artists, he leans left. In 2017, he said he supported then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, despite not endorsing him at the stump.
“People thought that, because I didn’t put myself behind him, I wasn’t a Corbyn supporter,” Sheeran told the Sunday Times. “If you knew me as a person, and listened to my music, you would be able to make a pretty educated guess that he would be the kind of person I really dig.”
When it comes to non-musical issues, Sheeran prefers to remain circumspect. His reasoning, he says, is that music should unite. He views his concerts as a “place of safety and sanctuary” built on shared humanity.
This week, that argument has come crumbling down – creating a crisis for his reputation and career.
By now, you probably know the story. Macklemore was picked as opening act on Sheeran’s US tour, and on the first night made a speech saying “Free Palestine” and showing images of the destruction in Gaza.
The following night, he referred to the death toll as a genocide, a claim that Israel rejects.
He faced condemnation, with the organisation StopAntisemitism accusing Macklemore of “ambushing” the audience. Stadium owners, apparently led by the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, put pressure on Sheeran and his promoters to drop him from the tour.
After a week of backroom discussions, they got their way.
On Tuesday, Sheeran issued a statement saying the decision was made by the promoters, not by him.
He said he had tried to build bridges between the parties, to no avail. And he said he was “not complicit”, arguing that his decision to remain out of the Middle East debate in public wasn’t proof he “didn’t care”.
“I am appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine,” he wrote. “The suffering and pain caused on both sides is a human tragedy. There are too many wars across the world causing immeasurable pain, none of which should be tolerated.”
He continued: “There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics – my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds.”
