Bob Geldof has defended his charity single Band Aid against criticism, including Ed Sheeran's complaint last week that he would not have added his vocals to a new mix if he had been asked to do so.
This Monday marks the 40th anniversary of the day a roll call of the UK's biggest pop stars (and a few foreign guests) came together to record a song… Do they know it's Christmas? In response to a BBC report on famine in Ethiopia. The record went on to raise £8 million ($10 million) and its founder Geldof went on to establish the Band Aid Charitable Trust, which has raised more than £140 million ($175 million) to date.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary, a remix of the song will be released tomorrow, incorporating different voices from the more recent versions, including that of Sheeran, who sang on the 2014 version, alongside other stars including One Direction and Rita Ora. However, this week he complained that he had not been asked, and if he had, he would have refused, and reposted a statement by rapper Fuse ODG, arguing that the song perpetuates misleading tropes about African poverty and is “not the truth.”
This weekend, in an interview with Times of LondonGeldof criticizes the “abstract rich-world argument” while his fund's funds provide food to those who are still starving. He said:
“This little pop song has kept millions of people alive. Why would Band Aid un-feed thousands of kids who depend on us for a meal? Why wouldn't it keep doing it? Because of an abstract argument about the rich world, regardless of its legitimacy.” No abstract theory, no matter how true it is, should hinder or distract attention from this ugly concrete reality in the real world. There are 600 million hungry people in the world, including 300 million in Africa. We wish there were others We can also help some of them and that is what we will continue to do.”
