Live Aid’s promoter has responded to recent criticism of Band Aid’s charity single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, calling those taking issue with the track “busybodies and woke people and do-gooders”.
- READ MORE: From the archives – the worst Christmas Number Ones of all time
The charity single was first conceived by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 and sought to raise money for the Ethiopian famine. Since then, two other versions of the track have been released in 2004 and 2014.
A new, 40th anniversary mix of the original song was unveiled today, bringing together all of the voices from all three versions, including Sting, Boy George, Sam Smith, Harry Styles, Chris Martin, Elbow‘s Guy Garvey, Sugababes, Bananarama, Seal, Sinéad O’Connor, Rita Ora, Robbie Williams, Kool and the Gang, Underworld and more.
However, the leadup to the release of the ‘Ultimate Mix’ of the charity single has been mired with controversy, after Ed Sheeran – who featured in the 2014 version – said that he had not been asked for his permission for the 2024 edition, and if he had been, he would have respectfully declined.
In a statement shared on Instagram, Sheeran referenced Ghanaian-English artist Fuse ODG’s refusal to be part of the track’s 2014 edition. In his reasoning, Fuse explained how the efforts to raise money for Africa also led to “perpetuat[ing] damaging stereotypes” on the continent.
Sheeran added: “A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed,” he wrote. “This is just my personal stance, I’m hoping it’s a forward-looking one.”
Now, Harvey Goldsmith, the track’s promoter, has responded to Sheeran and Fuse’s comments in an interview with Times Radio today (November 25).
Goldsmith told the station: “We wanted to do something to help. It’s as simple as that. And all these busybodies and woke people and do-gooders who know everything, let them get out and do something.” He also criticised the media for “trying to big it up into something that it isn’t.”
Referencing Sheeran specifically, Goldsmith said the singer is “entitled to his voice”, but added: “40 years on, we are still receiving funds. And we still distribute them. And we distribute them only to projects. We do not fund overheads of any description anywhere. We’re trying to do our best. And if they don’t like it, tough.”
Another person, alongside Fuse ODG and Sheeran, to speak out about the potentially negative impact of the track is Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. While acknowledging that the original version was “well-meaning at the time”, Ahmed added that it was “frustrating to see our nation’s ancient history, culture, diversity and beauty reduced to doom and gloom”.
He also said that while the humanitarian efforts from Band Aid are “admirable and to be appreciated”, he feels that it has “has not evolved with the times [and] might end up doing more harm than good”.
Following Sheeran’s statement, a source close to Band Aid told NME that Geldof had reached out personally to Sheeran on the matter. The former Boomtown Rats frontman would later share a response with the Sunday Times, saying: “This little pop song has kept millions of people alive.”
Geldof continued: “Why would Band Aid scrap feeding thousands of children dependent on us for a meal? Why not keep doing that? Because of an abstract wealthy-world argument, regardless of its legitimacy?
“No abstract theory regardless of how sincerely held should impede or distract from that hideous, concrete real-world reality,” he added. “There are 600 million hungry people in the world – 300 million are in Africa. We wish it were other but it is not. We can help some of them. That’s what we will continue to do.”
Since the release of the new ‘Ultimate Mix’, people have been reacting on social media. You can check out some responses here.
