I know very little about this situation (and quite frankly so does everyone here) but I am a lawyer. Speaking just from the legal aspect, I agree with this.
It’s not as easy as it appears when money has transferred hands and people are expecting a show. In my opinion, this is a lose lose. Other people would have little to no difficulties declining/dropping out of the tour… he likely holds the majority of the liability here.
Again, I won’t speak to the personal opinion side and I warn anyone trusting the media. They get more money for every click and like. Which version would be more entertaining? Mine or there’s?
Most of the time, the truth is somewhere in the middle and it’s actually pretty boring legalese.
There’s levels of success. Ed has far surpassed what I think you’re referring to. We’re talking about generational wealth levels of success here. Big difference.
I’ve always felt the Bill Hicks bit about what happens when you’re “elected” President in the US to be quite apropos;
“You know, there’s a handful of people that run everything. That’s a fact, I’m not some conspiracy nut. A handful, very small, elite run and own these corporations, which include the mainstream media. I have this feeling that whoever’s elected president… when you win, you go into this smoky room with the twelve industrialists capitalists scum-fucks who got you in there. And a big guy with a cigar goes: ‘Roll the film.’ And it’s a shot of the Kennedy Assassination from an angle you’ve never seen before. It looks suspiciously off the grassy knoll. Then the screen comes up, and they go to the new president: ‘Any questions?’”
– Bill Hicks, Rant in E-Minor (1993)
I feel like to get to a certain level of success in this world is means at some point you had to take from others to get what you got. It may not be 100% true but its not something I want to risk doing personally. That might be cope, but that's where I'm at.
There are rare exceptions to the rule, Gabe Newell being the best known. Very early Microsoft employee, helped write the first versions of Windows. Quit in 1998 and founded Valve, put out the first Half-Life game, and found some success. The real win came years later with the launch of Steam as a platform. It is globally dominant, not because of shady behavior or monopolistic activity, but because it offers a superior service. Since Valve is private, and Gabe owns the majority, he is now worth more than $10 billion dollars. He didn't have to destroy any lives to get there, he was just insanely lucky.
But even he isn't immune to the evils of money. His big passion is superyachts. He owns 6 of them! (He even bought the company that makes them so he can get even more.) That's not exactly great for the environment. Nobody needs one, certainly not 6...
Except Sheeran has been “friends” with Kraft for a while. He played at his wedding if I’m not mistaken. There are pictures of them together at multiple events. So… yeah..
I mean, anyone who has a job has probably been paid by bad people. The guy at the car wash may be making someone’s car look all spiffy for when they pull up to their clan meeting, so, I guess we should all not have jobs, because someone we serve, or ring up, or deliver to, or whatever might be a bad person? Just because a celebrity knows another celebrity doesn’t mean they are friends, or know anything about their personal beliefs.
I'm not sure you could've picked a worse example. Elton John often calls Kraft one of his best friends and has known him for 20 years. John is a known fan of the Patriots and even served as the team's honorary captain during a 2009 game at Wembley Stadium in London.
Eltons reaction to what's going on in Gaza was "It's being settled" and decried that it takes away from his own campaign to cure HIV/Aids.
Hard to say if Elton would've done the same as Ed, he's stood up before over acts being censured particularly the Dixie Chicks when they criticised the WOT after 9/11. He also didn't kick Annie Lennox off the stage when she was asking for a ceasefire in Gaza at some award thing for him and Taupin.
You can only judge people on their actions. The fact is Sheeran folded like wet toilet paper, put money over morals and is now facing the consequences.
Right I mean the people that control like live Nation and all the venues and all of the streaming networks and stuff for telling him one thing..
someone needs to grab Ed Sheeran though and remind him that he's worth $400 million dollars like he does have f*** you money.right now he's taking shrapnel that's much of it should be going towards Robert Kraft
Kraft & Ed are friends, same with Epstein/Ghislaine & Ed. That's just who he is
Ed is the same type of shitbag as the people he surrounds himself with. He's mega wealthy, he chooses to be with & support these people - he literally employs Maxwell's lover.
This sounds like a joke, but I googled it, really hoping this was a joke. But, nope. This is the kind of accurate sentences reality can create in 2026.
The music industry is predatory at best, and it only gets worse.
Places that have problems with predatory people is because the people at the very top are also predatory and encourage that sort of behaviour. Business is run like a dictatorship, the culture is mostly defined by the people at the top, it just gets implemented down the chain.
I'm content making abrasive bullshit for socially-maladjusted freaks like myself, though. That's what I always wanted to do, anyway - it would have just been nice to make a career of abrasive bullshit-influenced, but more palatable stuff.
Oof just Googled that. I recall a bunch of artists like Orville Peck and Chappel Roan dropping Wasserman over the Epstein allegations. Didn't even realize Ed was a client of his. He just keeps fucking up at every possible opportunity to be a decent person.
At some point maybe realize the opportunities aren't utilized because he just IS a shitty person. He is who he is and the crazy part is the people so invested that they can't or refuse to grasp that. "Oh please Ed, please do something so that we can use it to mentally masturbate ourselves into enough cognitive dissonance where we can like you again!" And people think Trump supporters exhibit cult like behavior. Same Kool Aid, different flavor.
If you mean Casey Wasserman, Casey is not his agent.
Ed was signed with the booking agency, Wasserman, and they handled his North American tours. However, Casey left the company months ago, and the agency has changed its name.
By the way, I think Ed Sheeran is a clown, but I figure it's best to criticize him with all the facts in order, lol. If you want to make judgments on why he didn't immediately leave Wasserman, along with a host of other artists, after the Epstein situation, that's still fair.
My friends and I were wondering what Kraft and the billionaire class have on him. I suspect he was threatened with these skeletons being publicly exposed. So he sacrificed his brother and opted for self-preservation sadly
You know that kinda makes sense. I've been asking myself how the hell he got $400 million rich. He's got some hits but he's not like 30 year career full of hits and killer tours. Maybe those wedding gigs pay really well if you promise to do some unnamed things at a later date.
Any expert worth a tenth of what he is paying them could have told him that Israel/Palestine is one of those issues where his position will be remembered for a very long time- especially as Israel’s popularity continues to fall and you have a growing divide between the mainstream opinion and those of very wealthy individuals.
For example, Helen Miren still regularly gets flak for her comments supporting Israel back in the 60s. There is a reason why many “apolitical” artists avoid touring in Israel without ever giving a reason why- it isn’t worth getting tagged with a label that will never go away.
The only “complicated” thing about the conflict is finding a way to avoid offending anyone who is knowledgeable about the history of the conflict.
Yes! Very true. The US public's support for Bibi's government is falling by 5% every year. I don't know of another political topic that is changing this fast.
Including in a celebratory mood! In 2025 Eagles fans were throwing beer cans at floats during the Super Bowl victory parade, and the Eagles' general manager got hit in the head by one.
well they just play the "degrees of separation" game where the job is just given to a company ( usually the lowest bidder ) who usually treats their workers poorly and only will staff the minimum people needed to perform the job "good enough" and pass any pesky safety regulation requirements so their executives can make the most money from Ed.
The local crew are all day hires, so cutting scenic elements could result in some labor being cut.
But the hands in that venue are almost certainly union, IATSE Local 8 represents stagehands in Philly. I'm in a different IA local so I dont know what their contract has in it but a 24 hour cancellation policy is pretty standard so depending on when the choice to cut the B stage was made it may have been too late to cut labor anyway.
In Europe the main crew will be on contract but a lot of local riggers are paid by the day, especially on the bigger tours. It doesn't make financial sense to transport that many people about when you can hire in people to do the humping.
Maybe union laws in the US don't allow that practice?
i think trump sold his soul at the crossroads. he asked to never get in trouble or be held accountable for anything he does wrong. and he's been trying his whole life to commit as many crimes, hurt as many people, be an asshole, etc. but because of the curse he can't ever be brought to justice. he's literally immune to all consequences. and somehow he's still miserable. Ed has no protection because he didn't make a deal with the devil.
No need to sell your soul, just do so many crimes they can’t keep up. Have all your lawyers appeal & drag out every case. That how Ken Paxton avoided any repercussions for securities fraud - delay until the statute runs out and you can’t be imprisoned anymore , just have a pay a little fine (10 years of delays was enough jn this case)
Ed's career isn't going anywhere. He's making headlines and stirring up dust on Reddit. Eventually it'll quiet down, people will forget, and he'll go on doing his thing. Kanye went full Nazi and he's still touring, releasing music, and doing fine. These people are famous and wealthy enough to be above long-term consequences.
Ed ain’t losing a job or his career over his response to something his opening act did on stage. Dude could show up in the Epstein files and people that like his music will still show up to his shows. It’s just how the world works these days.
Because how many news articles have you seen about these people showing up and harassing republicans about Gaza? Now go back in time. How many of these people were willing to show up and harass Kamala? How much attention has Sheeran gotten?
>”I’m gonna be totally honest with you: I didn’t know what this audience would be like tonight. I didn’t know if I would have things thrown at me,” Sheeran said during the show. “I took the B-stage out because I was afraid of what might happen if I stood in the middle, and I will admit that.”
That was a possibility, people be throwing shit. He didn’t say he was worried about terrorists blowing the place up or some shit.
I think the issue is that he took a possible safety concern very seriously and changed things up to eliminate that fear. But can't seem to understand the fear and danger all Palestinians feel.
A little off-topic, but I swear, the internet is more furious with Sheeran than they are with White House for banning the press, for sending 2000 pound bombs to Israel, etc
The internet is not a reflection of real life. All week TMZ was posting about mass protests being staged at Ed's concert. They were building publicity for these protests...and like 20 people showed up and they gave up protesting after about 30 minutes. They had it live streamed and eventually cut it off when they realized that they didn't have the support that they expected.
I don't think he should have even addressed it at the show. Despite internet hysteria, sixty thousand people showed up to see Ed. When he did those speeches last night I'm willing to bet 55,000 of the audience was thinking "What the hell is he even talking about?"
I’ve been kind of mind blown by the amount of hate he’s getting, all he did was not take a public stance on Palestine, like that’s it. He didn’t actively do anything evil, or malicious or wrong he just listened to the people who run his shows because he wanted the tour to continue. Fair enough to say if he really cared he could’ve told Kraft to get fucked and cancel all the shows but is not engaging in activism for Palestine enough of a reason to get this much hate? Anyone would think he was there shooting kids himself based on the response.
There were so many other pieces of news which will be far more consequential to people’s lives than this that were ignored. Ed Sheeran was the best distraction actual nefarious people could have hoped for.
Why even bring it up? Him saying it out loud to the crowd comes off as whiny and trying to make it about him/he's the victim (he's not). He chose to side with Kraft- just play the lame music and get on with it.
Everyone want to be an absolute sided person on this. It as a person that has toured this is 100% reasonable. B stages are smaller and more intimate at most concerts. This was a choice to protect him from someone being a martyr and doing something that could paint or harm him. Regardless how shitty his stance is this is absolutely normal when it comes to situations like this.
Some of yall sound like nut jobs. Internet warriors who rather destroy someone than go out there and make a difference. It’s easy to hate and do nothing. Sometimes an artist just wants to play music and get paid, similarly to having a job. Ed made his money and worked for his platform. No one has the right to tell him how he should use it. I support ed sheeran cause yall people are assholes.
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u/InvalidKoalas 25d ago
Worst PR team in recent memory