Stormzy, born Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr, is arguably one of the most successful UK based rappers, with hits like 'Shut Up' and 'Vossi Bop', as well as his collaborations with Little Mix ('Power'), Ed Sheeran ('Take Me Back To London'), Burna Boy ('Own It'), and Chase & Status ('Backbone').
In 2023, McDonald's got into controversy for offering free meals to Israeli soldiers in uniform at its branches in Israel. In response to boycott calls, McDonald's bought out its Israeli franchisee Alonyal Ltd, and now directly runs 225 branches in the country.
On his Instagram story, he claimed that he didn’t archive the post where he came out in support of Palestine “for any reason outside of me archiving loads of IG posts last year”, yet fans have criticised this justification.
Understanding that fans would disapprove of this editing choice portrayed via his social media, in a desperate attempt to assert his pro-Palestine stance, he further said “I understand it must feel disappointing and disheartening when it seems like someone you’ve championed has compromised their beliefs for commercial gain but this isn’t the case here.”
Founded by former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the Peace and Justice project has urged the rapper to drop this new collaboration in solidarity with Palestine. It comes as Hamas and Israel continue to free Israelis and Palestinians under the terms of the new ceasefire. This public callout occurred on X, in which the Project wanted the singer to 'Do Better', and “help us take genocide off the menu”.
Their connection was first publicly acknowledged in 2019, when the rapper announced that he was going to be voting for Corbyn, as Stormzy said that the politician was the “first man in a position of power who is committed to giving the power back to the people”.
It seems that a lot of these Stormzy meals will be going 'Cold' in solidarity to those in Palestine.