Bob Geldof addressed Ed Sheeran’s criticism against the Band-Aid charity’s single. A few days back the Shape of You singer called out the charity for using his vocals in their song without permission. He further emphasized that he would have “respectfully declined” the offer if they had asked him.
Sheeran reposted African rapper Fuse ODG’s Instagram story where he blamed the charity — that raises funds for Ethiopia — for promoting using stereotypical and “dehumanizing” imagery to fuel “pity” for their cause.
The I Don’t Care singer established that he feels the same way about the charity and hence would not lend his vocals for their Christmas single. “This is just my personal stance, I’m hoping it’s a forward-looking one. Love to all,” he wrote in his story.
This weekend, in an interview with The Times of London, Geldof called the criticism an “abstract wealthy-world argument” whereas his charity is the one who’s working on bigger world problems like providing food to those who are starving.
The charity band releases a revised version of their record Do They Know It’s Christmas? Every ten years in collaboration with renowned musicians. This year on the initiative’s 40th anniversary, they decided to release an “ultimate mix” with AI-generated vocals of young Sting with a young Sheeran, a young Boy George with a young Sam Smith, and a young George Michael beside a young Harry Styles.
“This little pop song has kept millions of people alive. Why would Band-Aid scrap feeding thousands of children dependent on us for a meal?” Geldof said in defense. He claimed that no abstract theory regardless of who put it across, should not distract the charity from its core — to vanquish “hideous, concrete real-world” problems.
Geldof defended the charity stating that there are 600 million starving people in the world and out of that, 300 belong to Africa. “We wish it were other but it is not. We can help some of them. That’s what we will continue to do,” he added.
