In 1984, the Boomtown Rats’ Bob Geldof and Ultravox’s Midge Ure wrote a catchy, well-intentioned, deeply problematic Christmas song about the need to help other people during the holiday season. A massive group of primarily young British stars — including Bono, Sting, Boy George, and Simon Le Bon — sang on “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” which came out under the name Band Aid. The song became a giant UK charity hit, and it served as the blueprint for all-star charity singles like “We Are The World.” Now, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is turning 40, and people are still fighting about it.

In the years after the song’s release, Band Aid mastermind Bob Geldof has overseen three more versions of the song in 1989, 2004, and 2014. On later versions, Geldof updated the song by bringing in the younger stars of the moment: Robbie Williams, the Sugababes, Dido, and Dizzee Rascal in 2004, One Direction, Sam Smith, and Ellie Goulding in 2014. Bono usually comes back for these things, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin has been on the last two. Today, Band Aid has released a new 40th-anniversary megamix that mashes up the vocals from the first, third, and fourth versions of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (When you’re having fun with it, remember the poor Band Aid II stars of 1989 who have been written out of the song’s history. Spare a thought for Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, Bros, Big Fun, and Technotronic. Tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you.)

One of the young stars who participated in the 2014 version of “Do They Know Is Christmas?” was Ed Sheeran. Last week, Sheeran said that he wouldn’t have given permission for his vocals to be used on the megamix if he’d been asked: “A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed.” Geldof responds in a new interview with The Times, arguing that the “little pop song has kept millions of people alive” over the decades:

This little pop song has kept millions of people alive. Why would Band Aid scrap feeding thousands of children dependent on us for a meal?… Why not keep doing that? Because of an abstract wealthy-world argument, regardless of its legitimacy? No abstract theory regardless of how sincerely held should impede or distract from that hideous, concrete real-world reality. There are 600 million hungry people in the world — 300 million are in Africa. We wish it were other, but it is not. We can help some of them. That’s what we will continue to do.

Meanwhile, Live Aid promoter Harvey Goldsmith tells The Independent that the controversy is merely an issue for “busybodies and woke do-gooders” and says he thinks it’s “strange that the media [are] bigging this up or trying to big it up into something that it isn’t.” I’m sure that will make everyone feel better.