Bob Geldof is standing his ground on “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
As the Irish musician and activist, 73, prepares to release a 40th-anniversary edition of the holiday charity song — and faces criticism from Ed Sheeran — he is not only defending the track’s legacy but also revealing that he has no plans of stopping his charity work.
Last week, Sheeran, 33, claimed on social media that Band Aid didn’t ask for his permission to use his vocals (he appeared on the 2014 version of the track) on the new mix, and said that given the choice, he “would have respectfully declined the use” of them.
Explaining this decision, Sheeran said that in the past decade his “understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed.” He also cosigned a statement from Ghanian-English afrobeats musician Fuse ODG, who said he declined to participate in Band Aid’s 2014 rendition because he “recognised the harm initiatives like it inflict …