LONDON: Singer Ed Sheeran said he was “a bit bruised and broken” on Wednesday but his Dubai gig will still go ahead as planned.
“We have now received an update from the Ed Sheeran team that he is unable to perform for the immediate future. Since Dubai is the last show of the season we have been told that the show is still going ahead as planned. Until we receive any further feedback from Ed we are sending him get well wishes from Dubai and we hope to see him soon.” said Thomas Ovesen, chief executive of 117Live, organizers of the show.
Sheeran is recovering from a bicycle accident that left him with a broken wrist, elbow and rib and led to the cancelation of shows on the Asia leg of his tour.
The singer, 26, sported a full cast on one arm and a sling on the other arm as he walked down the red carpet at London’s Q Awards for music.
“I am a bit bruised and broken but I am fine,” the singer told Reuters. “It was a bike accident and I broke my wrist, broke my elbow, broke a rib ... I’ll be alright though.”
Sheeran added that the future of his “Divide” world tour was “up to (my) manager and agent.”
The singer said in an Instagram post this week that he suffered fractures to his wrist and elbow and that he was “unable to perform live concerts for the immediate future.” His injury forced the cancelation of tour dates in Taipei, Osaka, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong so far.
Sheeran went into Wednesday’s awards with three nominations and won the accolade for best act in the world today. The annual ceremony hosted by Britain’s Q magazine, celebrates musical talent.
Ed Sheeran cancels tour dates, but Dubai gig to go ahead
Ed Sheeran cancels tour dates, but Dubai gig to go ahead
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
