Bono has revealed Ed Sheeran told him he didn’t want to make any political statements when they collaborated on the track Yours Eternally.
The U2 frontman did not wish to “dwell” on the backlash Ed is facing after Macklemore was dropped from his Loop Tour dates in the US after making a Free Palestine speech opening for the Shape of You hitmaker at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in September.
Speaking to Rolling Stone UK magazine, Bono said: “I would say with Ed and Macklemore that we shouldn’t personalise this, what’s going on.
“Brian Eno said today that pop stars are like little fish in a large sea of huge forces and religion and politics… And so I don’t want to dwell on Ed and Macklemore and that incident.”
Bono went on to recall a conversation he had with Ed when they were teaming up on Yours Eternally. Released earlier this year, it’s written as a letter home from a Ukrainian soldier fighting on the frontline amid the conflict with Russia.
According to Bono, Ed said: “You’re not going to get me into politics, are you?’”.
He pointed out that the soldier in question was a fan of Ed, to which he replied: “Yeah, but I just want to keep my thing free.”
On Ed’s apolitical stance, Bono insisted: “You can’t be pushing people around.”
Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. echoed that sentiment, adding that “artists [can] choose whether they want to be involved, and they are entitled to choose whether they want to be involved or not… And it’s not our job to criticise that, no matter how we feel.”
Concert promoter Robert Kraft has come under fire after he allegedly barred Macklemore from performing at his stadium and seemingly urged other venue owners to follow suit. He has defended himself and teamed up with Ed to commit millions to humanitarian relief.
The sticksman said U2 would never take demands from “promoters or billionaire owners”.
He said: “We are absolutely clear about promoters or billionaire owners and the idea that they could have some influence on what you say or what you do on a stage.
“We’ve talked about this, and [if] you applied that logic to U2, we would have been out of business on Sunday, Bloody Sunday.”