Ed Sheeran

Relative to Macklemore's MetLife speech and removal from the tour, Sheeran criticizes venue control over performers' content, saying such pre-approval should never happen in the free world. The classification records that criticism within the removal dispute. It does not treat the remarks as an express condemnation of Macklemore's speech or a claim that the removal itself was his mistake. Continuing to perform does not expressly endorse venue control, so it does not require a mixed classification.

Relative to Macklemore's MetLife speech and his removal from the tour, Sheeran combines two materially different positions rather than resolving them. He defends Macklemore's freedom to make the speech, saying he agreed that support acts play a setlist of their choosing, that he respects Macklemore as an artist, and that he spent the week speaking with venue owners including Robert Kraft to try to keep him on the tour. At the same time he declines to endorse the message, stating that he does not use his professional platform for politics and that he chooses not to speak publicly on the conflict, and he accepts the outcome rather than contesting it further, citing his obligations to fans and crew. Neither element cancels the other, which is what “Mixed or conditional” records. The closest competing label is “Explicitly stayed out”, which loses because Sheeran does not merely refuse to address the matter: he makes substantive attributable statements about Macklemore's setlist freedom and about his own efforts to keep him on the tour. A reading that this is not a position event also loses, because his defence of the setlist agreement and his stated respect for Macklemore's purpose are evaluations of the conduct under scrutiny, not only of his own role.