British musicians including Ed Sheeran and Rita Ora wrote an open letter Sunday to Prime Minister Theresa May warning that Brexit is "serious madness" and threatens "every aspect of the music industry". The letter, organised by Bob Geldof and backed by dozens of pop, rock and classical heavyweights, called on May to rethink leading Britain out of the European Union.
"We are about to make a very serious mistake regarding our giant industry and the vast pool of yet undiscovered genius that lives on this little island," said the letter, published in The Observer newspaper.
"We have decided to put ourselves inside a self-built cultural jail! The very opposite of wall-destroying, prejudice-denying, ideas-generating that is the very essence of contemporary music." Britain voted narrowly to leave the EU in a divisive 2016 referendum and is set to leave in March next year.