NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
Seattle, WA, September 17, 2026: Former Seattle City Council member and socialist activist Kshama Sawant has accused U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of hypocrisy over their positions on Israel and Gaza and their ties to the Democratic Party.
Sawant’s comments came in direct response to a TMZ post about Ocasio-Cortez’s reaction to the controversy surrounding rapper Macklemore’s removal from the U.S. leg of Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour.
“Rep. AOC tells @hicharliecotton she is boycotting Ed Sheeran because she says he’s complicit in Robert Kraft and other stadium owners’ efforts to silence Macklemore,” TMZ posted on X on September 15.
In the interview, Ocasio-Cortez said she would stop listening to Sheeran’s music, but directed much of her criticism at New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and other stadium owners. She argued that allowing a small number of wealthy venue owners to determine what artists can say could set a dangerous precedent for political expression. Ocasio-Cortez also said she empathized with Sheeran’s situation and acknowledged that she did not know the details of his contractual arrangements.
Sawant responded to TMZ’s post by turning the accusation of complicity back on Ocasio-Cortez.
“It’s the height of hypocrisy for @AOC to say she’ll boycott @edsheeran given her endorsements of genocidal politicians like @RepJeffries, campaigning for @KamalaHarris, and supporting Iron Dome weapons funding for Israel,” Sawant wrote.
Sawant’s description of Democratic politicians as “genocidal” reflects her political characterization of their support for Israel and is not a neutral description.
She also accused Ocasio-Cortez of putting her political career ahead of taking a stronger position against Israel.
“If AOC had decided to use her elected office to fight the genocidal, anti-worker Democratic Party, she would have antagonized the party leadership but a majority of working people would have agreed with her,” Sawant wrote.
Sawant argued that Ocasio-Cortez could instead have built mass movements to support such a challenge, comparing that approach with her own decade on the Seattle City Council.
She then broadened her criticism to include Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America.
“The cowardice and complicity of @NYCMayor Mamdani and AOC is what history will remember, along with the cover given to them by the DSA leadership,” Sawant wrote. “They claim to be pro-Palestinian but support genocidal politicians to ensure their own comfortable careers in the capitalist Democratic Party.”
The criticism highlights a broader ideological divide within the American socialist left over whether progressive and socialist politicians should work within the Democratic Party or build an independent political movement outside it.
Sawant, who served on the Seattle City Council from 2014 to 2024, has long advocated political organization independent of the Democratic Party. Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani, by contrast, have won elected office as Democrats while maintaining ties to the democratic socialist movement.
Mamdani has been a vocal critic of the Israeli government and supporter of Palestinian rights. Ocasio-Cortez has also strongly criticized Israel’s conduct in Gaza while drawing distinctions between offensive military assistance and some defensive systems.
Sawant has rejected that distinction and previously criticized Ocasio-Cortez over votes involving Israeli missile-defense funding.
The latest dispute grew out of the controversy surrounding Macklemore’s removal from Sheeran’s tour following the rapper’s pro-Palestinian statements during performances at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Sheeran has said he did not make the decision to remove Macklemore from the tour. According to Sheeran, venues on upcoming tour dates said they would pull the shows if Macklemore remained in the lineup. Sheeran said he tried to reach a resolution with the venues and promoters, but that their decision was final. He said Macklemore’s removal was the promoter’s decision and noted that Macklemore’s contract was with the promoter, not with him.
Kraft, whose company owns and operates Gillette Stadium, confirmed that Macklemore would not be allowed to perform there, citing the rapper’s recent actions, material presented during his New Jersey performances and what Kraft described as a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that had been offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.
The fallout has spread beyond Macklemore and Sheeran, with several other supporting artists withdrawing from the tour in solidarity with Macklemore.
Sawant’s intervention has now brought another dimension to the controversy, shifting part of the debate from the actions of musicians and stadium owners to divisions among prominent figures on the American left over Gaza, Israel and the Democratic Party.
It’s the height of hypocrisy for @AOC to say she'll boycott @edsheeran given her endorsements of genocidal politicians like @RepJeffries, campaigning for @KamalaHarris, and supporting Iron Dome weapons funding for Israel.
— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) September 16, 2026
But AOC empathizing with Ed Sheeran is unsurprising given… https://t.co/2BH2LiHkcq
Cover photo credits: Kshama Sawant/X, AOC/TMZ.
