Jack Antonoff, a Grammy-winning producer who has helped produce pop sensation Taylor Swift’s most iconic hits, slammed singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran, going on to say that he missed a golden opportunity to “stand the f–k up” to billionaire interests, throwing shade at the English singer for booting Macklemore off his tour after the rapper made comments concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Antonoff, the lead singer for the Bleachers, delivered his brutal takedown of Sheeran during an interview with The Guardian a month after Sheeran received massive backlash for removing Macklemore from the Loop Tour after he made calls for “Free Palestine” during his opening act. “If you think it is [controversial] you’re lost in some other sauce that is so crazy,” Antonoff said.
“They’re going to let some f—ing promoter tell me what I can say? Don’t book me. I’ll play for free outside,” Antonoff told the outlet. However, it seems the motivation for kicking Macklemore off the tour had more to do with potential profit loss than any sort of moral predicament. New England Patriots Owner Robert Kraft was one among a group of NFL team owners that threatened to ban Sheeran’s tour if Macklemore was on the bill.
According to Fox News, Antonoff stated that Sheeran should have just canceled the tour and put on free concerts outside venues instead of giving in to the pressure from billionaires. “[Ed Sheeran] missed a massive, beautiful opportunity there: just cancel the whole f—ing tour, then play for free outside each venue, raise a bunch of money, rather than let a f—ing billionaire tell you what to do,” Antonoff remarked.
“The reason it’s not an anomaly or niche issue is because we all live in a world where billionaires are constantly telling us what to do. So stand the f— up,” he continued. During a stop in Philadelphia, Sheeran addressed the situation saying, “What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.”
Several other acts and artists on the tour who were scheduled to open for Sheeran opted to drop out of the tour to stand in solidarity with Macklemore who has since doubled down on his “Free Palestine” messaging. Antonoff, who is also a proponent of the “Free Palestine” movement, praised Macklemore for speaking out on the issue.
Antonoff, who is Jewish, said that he has “felt way more emboldened to say it now.” The producer told the outlet, “It’s not in any way a strange, uncomfortable or controversial thing to say, it’s a deeply human thing to say.” Christian Toto, conservative film and entertainment writer, slammed Antonoff saying he is not concerned about free speech, but is just attempting to gain the approval of those in his industry.
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“Jack doesn’t sound well-informed, either about Middle East politics or his own business,” Toto went on to say in a statement. “If Sheeran scrapped his tour, how many workers would lose their jobs? And, if he did an alternative tour, how would they get paid? He knows it’s acceptable within his industry to blanketly bash billionaires, a lazy, thoughtless attack and do a variation of ‘Free Palestine,” he added. “He’s trying to curry favor within his industry. Sadly, it might just work.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video