Ed Sheeran has said Band Aid didn’t ask permission to reuse his vocals on the upcoming 40th anniversary version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
In a post on his Instagram Story, Sheeran further explained that he would have “respectfully declined” a request to include his vocals from the 2014 version after learning more about the negative stereotypes that can be furthered by such initiatives.
“My approval wasn’t sought on this new Band Aid 40 release and had I had the choice I would have respectfully declined the use of my vocals,” Sheeran wrote. “A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed, eloquently explained by @fuseodg. This is just my personal stance, I’m hoping it’s a forward looking one. Love to all x”
Sheeran referenced a post from Ghanaian-English singer and rapper Fuse ODG, in which the latter explained why he turned down an opportunity to contribute to the 2014 version. “I refused to participate in Band Aid because I recognised the harm initiatives like it inflict on Africa,” Fuse ODG wrote.
“While they may generate sympathy and donations, they perpetuate damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa’s economic growth, tourism, and investment, ultimately costing the continent trillions and destroying its dignity, pride and identity.”
Fuse ODG continued by saying he believed charity efforts like Band Aid “fuel pity rather than partnership” and his goal is to “reclaim the narrative, empowering Africans to tell their own stories, redefine their identity, and position Africa as a thriving hub for investment and tourism.”
Arriving next week, the 2024 edition of Band Aid’s all-star “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” will blend vocals from the artists who have contributed to different versions of the song over the decades, including Sting, Boy George, Sam Smith, George Michael, Harry Styles, Chris Martin, and Sinead O’Connor. Their voices will be put over music performed by a band comprised of Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Roger Taylor, Thom Yorke, Paul Weller, Damon Albarn, Jonny Greenwood, and more.
As BBC News points out, Sheeran and Fuse ODG aren’t the first folks in recent memory to criticize Band Aid’s charity track. Last year, writer Indrajit Samarajiva described it as “a terrible, racist song” and said the lyrics take “an ignorant and colonial attitude, more about making white people feel good than helping anyone.”
Over the weekend, Band Aid organizer and “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” co-writer Bob Geldof defended the song in a statement to The Conversation. “This little pop song has kept hundreds of thousands if not millions of people alive,” he said. “In fact, just today Band Aid has given hundreds of thousands of pounds to help those running from the mass slaughter in Sudan and enough cash to feed a further 8,000 children in the same affected areas of Ethiopia as 1984.”
Geldof continued, “Those exhausted women who weren’t raped and killed and their panicked children and any male over 10 who survived the massacres and those 8,000 Tigrayan children will sleep safer, warmer and cared for tonight because of that miraculous little record. We wish that it were other but it isn’t. ‘Colonial tropes’, my arse.”
Ed Sheeran’s Instagram Story