# There Is No 'Neutral': Macklemore, Pink, Ed Sheeran, and the Cost of Speaking Out

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/messy-liberation-feminist-conversations-about-politics-and-pop-culture-6952884/there-is-no-neutral-macklemore-pink-ed-sheeran-and-the-cost-of-speaking-out
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/messy-liberation-feminist-conversations-about-politics-and-pop-culture-6952884/there-is-no-neutral-macklemore-pink-ed-sheeran-and-the-cost-of-speaking-out.md
Podcast: [Messy Liberation: Feminist Conversations about Politics and Pop Culture](https://stenobird.com/podcast/messy-liberation-feminist-conversations-about-politics-and-pop-culture-6952884)
Published: 2026-09-14T18:46:11+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/94c8bae6
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/94c8bae6/8e738233.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/messy-liberation-feminist-conversations-about-politics-and-pop-culture-6952884/episodes/there-is-no-neutral-macklemore-pink-ed-sheeran-and-the-cost-of-speaking-out
Duration seconds: 3102

## Resource

On this episode of Messy Liberation, hosts Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown break down Macklemore's public firing from Ed Sheeran's tour after he said "Free Palestine" on stage — and use it to dig into celebrity complicity, white feminism, and the real difference between Zionism and Judaism. From Robert Kraft's stadium pressure campaign to AIPAC's grip on Democratic politics to the actual cost of speaking out against genocide, Becky and Taina unpack what it looks like to choose a side when neutrality was never on the table. In This Episode, We Get Into: Macklemore getting pulled from Ed Sheeran's tour after saying "Free Palestine" to 90,000 people, and reading his response statement live How Robert Kraft and other venue owners used stadium access as leverage to force Ed Sheeran's hand Why "I don't take sides" is itself a side, and Macklemore's line: "There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed" Pink's Instagram statement, her US Open outing with Elizabeth Banks and Amy Adams, and why it's a textbook white feminism case study What celebrities and public figures actually owe their audiences, the parasocial relationship and the responsibility that comes with a platform AIPAC money, the Wesley Bell/Cori Bush congressional race, and how Democrats fall in line on Israel funding Untangling Zionism from Judaism and anti-Zionism from antisemitism, and why conflating them silences critics The 5,000-signature Hollywood letter opposing the word "genocide," and who's cashing checks to stay quiet Mandy Patinkin, Holocaust parallels, and how dehumanization spreads once a society decides it's permissible for one group "Does Israel have a right to exist?", and a reframe (it exists, so now what?) that matters more than the debate itself A closing tangent on Jasm…

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