Speech of the Month, September 2026 - Ed Sheeran

It's interesting, isn't it? In the same month that we were celebrating the life of Dolly Parton, and praising her as a top-drawer unifier for staying out of politics, a much younger performer, Ed Sheeran, found himself in hot water for not taking a political stance. Hypocritical? Possibly.

The row came to a head in a speech before his Philadelphia gig, one that appears to have lanced the controversy. Later on, I'll look at what we can learn from it. First, though, in case you were busy clearing paths and planting bulbs in September and missed every twist, turn and tantrum of the Sheeran/Macklemore/Kraft debacle, here's the background…

Sheeran is in the middle of his huge US Loop Tour when one of his support acts, the rapper Macklemore, shouted ‘Free Palestine’ during his set. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, objected, and it was made clear that Macklemore would not be performing at his venue. Sheeran later said that other venues had threatened to pull their shows too if the rapper stayed on the bill.

Presumably the calculation was that losing Macklemore was a smaller headache than finding replacement stadiums at such short notice. And imagine the backlash from fans who had already booked hotels. So, Macklemore was given the heave-ho.

Sheeran then spoke out on social media, confirming that Kraft and other “venues on my upcoming tour dates had communicated that they would pull the shows if the rapper remained on the supporting lineup.” He said that despite his attempts to “build bridges and find a solution between the stadium owners and activists on both sides, the venues and promoter’s decision was final.” He added that he respected “Macklemore’s strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes.”

At this point Sheeran must have felt he was out of a tight spot. What he hadn’t foreseen was the reaction of the rest of his support acts, who walked out in solidarity with Macklemore and an artist’s right to free speech. Then Macklemore announced that he would donate his entire $1 million of net tour earnings to organisations supporting Palestinians, which made Sheeran look all the more like a man hiding behind his promoter. Not very rock ’n’ roll, is it? 

Eventually, unable to take the flak any longer, he addressed it head on at the start of his Philadelphia show. He apologised for his “mistakes”, explained the pressures he had been under, and set out how he felt about the bigger issues at stake.

Now, most of us will never have to juggle support acts, negotiate with billionaire stadium owners or send a global tour into turmoil. And yet there is plenty here for the rest of us to learn from, especially if we manage people.

If your first message lands badly, send another one

Sheeran’s social media post landed badly. Many people, particularly those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, didn’t believe that the decision was really out of his hands, and the post only escalated the controversy. He could have dug in and waited for the storm to pass. Instead, understandably, he put out a second message.

Anyone who has sent an email, announced a reorganisation or made a call that went down badly will recognise the situation. Not every wobble needs a follow-up, though, so it’s worth asking yourself two questions:

1. How much damage is the way my message landed doing to my team or company?
2. How badly do I feel about how it landed?

If the answer to both is ‘a lot’, you need to send a second message to clear the matter up.

What should the second message say? Keep it simple. Acknowledge how the first message landed, without getting defensive. Say what you got wrong, or what you’ve understood since. And be clear about what happens next. The aim isn’t to relitigate the original decision but to repair trust.

Don’t leave it too long. Sheeran’s Instagram post came out on a Tuesday and his speech was on the Saturday. In those few days, everyone else was busy filling the gap with their own interpretations. In a team, rumour moves just as fast, and silence rarely reads as calm.

Where and how you say it matters

When it came to the second message, Sheeran didn’t issue another post. He addressed it live, at the start of the show, in front of the people most affected. There was no hiding place and no filter, and the audience could judge for themselves whether he meant it.

The same applies at work. If your first message was an email, the second is probably best delivered in a meeting room, face to face or, at the very least, in a video meeting: somewhere the dissenters can see you and, hopefully, your sincerity. It also makes you look brave, and what do we want our managers to be?

A few practical pointers:

• Match the channel to the weight of the issue. A written apology invites people to read between the lines. A spoken one lets them hear your tone.
• Go first. Sheeran opened with it rather than tucking it away at the end. Don’t make people sit through the rest of the agenda waiting for you to address the elephant in the room.
• Prepare, but don’t script. Know the points you want to make, but don’t read them out in a monotone. People are looking for sincerity, not polish.
• Make space for a response. People who feel heard are more likely to move on. Be prepared to take questions, and to hear things you won’t enjoy.

Own decisions made on your behalf

In his social media post, Sheeran gave the impression that he had absolutely no say in the scheduling of his tour, and therefore that none of the furore should be directed at him. He hoped this explanation of his helplessness would draw a line under the backlash. It didn’t, because most people didn’t believe he was a completely voiceless lame duck. Had he set out the issues and complications in that post, it might have quelled the criticism. At the very least, he wouldn’t have insulted his readers’ intelligence.

When it came to his speech, he set out the issues far better. We got a sense of the tensions at work and could see the impact they had had on him. 

There’s a really good message here for managers. When you have to ask your team to do something unpopular, it’s tempting to say that it ‘came from above’ as a way of dodging any blame or bad feeling. But if you’re the face of a decision, people will hold you accountable for it whether or not you made it. Worse, ‘it wasn’t me’ costs you twice: it makes the decision sound indefensible (if you won’t stand behind it, why should anyone else?) and it tells your team that you have no influence, or won’t use it.

You have two honest options:

1. Explain. Set out the constraints, the trade-offs and the alternatives that were considered, and what you did to try to change the outcome. This respects your team’s intelligence and shows them that the decision didn’t come out of nowhere.
2. Own it. Simply say: ‘This is the decision, I’m responsible for communicating it, and I’ll help us get through it.’

Either way, acknowledge what the decision will cost people rather than dressing it up as good news. And if you privately disagree with it, you can say you understand the frustration, but resist the temptation to blame the people above you. That doesn’t solve the problem, it just moves it.

Whatever you do, never imply you’re a voiceless lame duck!