Suzanne Harrington: If we can see what's happening then so can global pop and sports icons
Demonstrators protest at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts a day after a Trump-appointed board voted to add President Donald Trump's name to the Kennedy Center. Picture: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
We all have hopes and dreams for 2026. It’s 10 years on Saturday since David Bowie’s departure — and the world is overdue some hazy cosmic realignment after a decade of diamond dogshit. Dare we hope that 2026 is the year when our biggest global superstars find their voices and start speaking up?
Not just to sell us more of their product, but to start using their global platforms — and insane wealth — beyond their own interests. To speak up for those with no voices who are currently being pounded into the ground. Palestine, Sudan, Congo... take your pick.
Is this too much to hope for? As political leaders — warlords in business suits — continue to do their worst, do pop-culture titans have a responsibility to make some opposing noise?
It can’t be that they’re worried about being cancelled — they are too big, too rich. Economic powerhouses with a global reach, who choose to say nothing.
Similarly, global sports stars — especially footballers and boxers — have significant and immediate influence. But while lots of less famous sports people have spoken out, what about the household names?
The only global sports superstar who has repeatedly called for an end to the atrocities in Palestine is Lewis Hamilton. Support for Palestine has been left to the fans. Where is the 21st century equivalent of Muhammad Ali? Nina Simone?
The argument that sport and pop is apolitical is invalid. Everything cultural is political. Every single thing.
Just ask the Eurovision — the silliest, frothiest, poppiest pop event on the planet.
Yet it is the famous-but-not-gigantically-famous people like Kneecap, Bob Vylan, Nicola Coughlan, Sally Rooney who are sticking their necks out the most. Rooney’s book sales under threat, Bob Vylan and Kneecap harassed and vilified through the English courts and media.
Non-household names — like comedian Reginald D Hunter being pursued on made-up antisemitism claims — are the kind of middling-famous people whose careers can easily be cancelled by the establishment. Unlike the careers of mega-rich sports and entertainment behemoths, who despite their immense cultural clout, choose to keep schtum. Why?
It’s not like a media backlash could dent the devotion of Swifties; if Rihanna lost 10m followers overnight, her grandchildren would still be rich.
Lesser known musicians — like jazz group The Cookers who cancelled their New Year’s Eve concert at Washington’s Kennedy Centre — have spoken out about not being morally able to perform in a “a venue bearing a name… that represents overt racism".
They mean Trump, obviously, who appointed his minions to the board of the venue and got its name changed to the Trump Kennedy Center. The band notes that "Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice."
But what about pop? What about sport?
Because the optics are changing. Consumers of pop culture and sports entertainment culture are increasingly aware of what’s happening in the world. Not because we all subscribe to , but because we have phones. We can see what’s happening. Not hearing or seeing our global pop icons or sporting idols condemning the relentless mass murder of innocents might make us wonder — are they really such idols and icons after all?
