Ben Rhodes says using wealth to suppress dissent will backfire
Ben RhodesWriter and foreign-policy commentator, former deputy national security adviser, posting on X
Quote-posting a report that Ed Sheeran had lost all his supporting acts, Ben Rhodes argued that using power and wealth to suppress dissent backfires, and criticised stadium owners for telling audiences what they may think.
“When your only response to dissent is to use power and wealth to make it go away, you are going to have the opposite effect. People can see what’s happening in the Middle East with their eyes and don’t want to be told what they’re allowed to think by people who own stadiums.”
Original post
Where this statement fits
Macklemore’s “Free Palestine” speech and removal from Ed Sheeran’s U.S. tour
At two Ed Sheeran concerts at MetLife Stadium, Macklemore called for a free Palestine, accused Israel of apartheid and genocide, and said criticism of Israel was not criticism of Jewish people. After venue objections, tour promoter Messina Touring Group said he would not perform the remaining U.S. Loop Tour dates. Critics characterized the performance as hostile or inappropriate; Macklemore defended it as a call for equal treatment.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
The account is Ben Rhodes’s, with a bio identifying Pod Save the World and his authorship. The post quote-posts a Consequence report on Sheeran losing his supporting acts, which ties it explicitly to this dispute rather than to the conflict in general.
Before the quotation
Consequence had reported hours earlier that Sheeran was left without any opening acts or a backing band after the four supporting acts withdrew.
After the quotation
Rhodes does not name Macklemore, Sheeran or Robert Kraft. His reference to “people who own stadiums” tracks the venue owners at the centre of this dispute, and his characterisation of events in the Middle East is his own.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to Macklemore’s MetLife speech and his removal, Rhodes casts the response to that speech as an attempt to use power and wealth to make dissent disappear, and rejects the idea that stadium owners should determine what audiences may think. He defends the speech and criticises those who pressed for the removal. The quote-posted item about Sheeran losing his supporting acts establishes the connection to this dispute rather than to the wider conflict.
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Macklemore tells Dublin crowd the words "free Palestine" are "so threatening to some people"
“those two words are so threatening to some people. They would rather silence those two words than confront what they actually mean. Because freedom that requires another person’s oppression is not freedom at all.”Read statement
Jack Antonoff says Ed Sheeran "missed a massive, beautiful opportunity" to cancel his tour
“They’re going to let some fucking promoter tell me what I can say? Don’t book me. I’ll play for free outside. [Ed Sheeran] missed a massive, beautiful opportunity there: just cancel the whole fucking tour, then play for free outside each venue, raise a bunch of money, rather than let a fucking billionaire tell you what to do.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Ben Rhodes says using wealth to suppress dissent will backfire". First published: 2026-09-16. Last updated: 2026-09-16. https://disputeindex.com/events/699-quote-posting-a-report-that-ed-sheeran-had