Ed Sheeran's U.S. Loop Tour is unraveling after venues forced out rapper Macklemore for onstage pro-Palestine remarks, and a growing roster of celebrities and opening acts are making Sheeran the villain for it.
Sheeran posted a lengthy statement on social media Tuesday defending his handling of the controversy, saying he spent a week trying to negotiate a resolution after venues on upcoming tour dates threatened to cancel shows entirely if Macklemore remained on the lineup. The singer said the venues' objections centered not on what Macklemore said, but on how he delivered his message during performances at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the rapper wore a Palestinian keffiyeh, called for a "Free Palestine," and performed his protest song "Hind's Hall" while images from Gaza played on giant screens.
The statement did nothing to quiet the backlash. Within hours, four of Sheeran's remaining opening acts, Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham, and Irish folk band Beoga, announced they were pulling off the tour in solidarity with Macklemore. And a string of celebrity attacks on Sheeran escalated from pointed to personal, with "Hacks" actor Hannah Einbinder, "Wicked" actor Marissa Bode, children's YouTube star Ms. Rachel, and former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters all publicly condemning the singer.
The Messina Touring Group, which promotes Sheeran's U.S. dates, confirmed the decision in a statement to Rolling Stone. All eight remaining U.S. venues on the tour notified the promoter they would not allow concerts to proceed with Macklemore on the lineup, Breitbart reported.
"As the concert promoter for Ed Sheeran's U.S. Loop Tour, we have been notified by venues on the upcoming U.S. tour dates that they will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans."
Macklemore had been set to appear at eight of the ten remaining U.S. dates before the removal. Among the venues that reportedly refused to host him were Lincoln Financial Field, Gillette Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and AT&T Stadium, Just The News reported.
Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner, issued his own statement addressing the ban. Kraft cited Macklemore's "antisemitic rhetoric and imagery" as the reason, while also acknowledging the suffering of innocent Palestinians, AP News reported.
"This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf. Their pain and loss are real."
The Israeli-American Council also launched a petition calling for Sheeran to drop Macklemore from the tour following the MetLife Stadium incident.
Sheeran's Tuesday statement, Fox News reported, cast the singer as someone caught between a fellow artist and a wall of venue owners who would not budge. He said he agreed to let Macklemore join the tour last year and gave him full control over his own setlist.
"After Macklemore's performances at my New Jersey shows, venues on my upcoming tour dates communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting. I was informed that this stance was based on how Macklemore conveyed part of his message during his performance, rather than on everything that was said."
Sheeran said he spoke with venues, promoters, and activists on both sides throughout the week. He named Kraft as one of the people he engaged directly. But the venues' and promoter's decision, he said, was final.
He also offered a broader defense of his refusal to use his concert platform for political statements.
"There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics, my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds. Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum."
And he pushed back against the charge, by then spreading rapidly online, that his silence amounted to complicity.
"I am not complicit. I have my personal views on this devastating conflict. Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn't mean I don't have them, and it doesn't mean I don't care."
Macklemore went public with his own account on Monday, a day before Sheeran's response. He claimed Kraft rallied other stadium owners to block him and described the situation as an ultimatum handed to Sheeran. He said he had been speaking about Palestinians for three years and did not need the full run of shows to accomplish what he set out to do.
"I didn't need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say. Free Palestine. But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I've ever been on."
He also told AP News that high-profile exposure was the real issue: "At a certain level of exposure, Free Palestine becomes too much of a risk."
The celebrity pile-on that followed Sheeran's statement ranged from mocking to vulgar. Einbinder, the "Hacks" star, posted on Instagram:
"Ed Sheeran i say this as a ginger. i hope you get a REALLY bad sun burn the kind on the back of your entire body where it hurts to lie down or walk or sit"
Bode, who uses a wheelchair, reworked Sheeran's hit "Thinking Out Loud" into a personal shot on Instagram: "Ed Sheeran, my legs may not work like they used to before, but at least I have a f***ing spine. Free Palestine, b****."
Ms. Rachel, the children's educator and YouTube star Rachel Griffin-Accurso, said Sheeran had "caved to people who refuse to accept what the world knows." She called events in Gaza a "genocide," a characterization that remains disputed and has not been adopted by the U.S. government.
Roger Waters delivered what may have been the most aggressive response, posting a video on social media in which he contrasted Macklemore's willingness to speak out with Sheeran's silence:
"There are two kinds of people in this world, Ed. There are people who do the right thing. That rapper Macklemore would be one of those people. And there are people, many of them sadly little, excuse me, I nearly used the F-word then, p****** like you who do the wrong thing. Goodbye."
The departures went beyond social media posts. All four remaining opening acts, Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham, and Beoga, withdrew from the tour. Finneas said artists should not be silenced when speaking for oppressed people. Rowe condemned the use of wealth and venue power to suppress pro-Palestinian voices. The Washington Examiner reported that the departures represent a total collapse of the tour's supporting lineup.
Lukas Graham struck a more measured tone, writing that he was grateful for his friendship with Sheeran but could not "carry on with tour as things stand."
"I'm sorry we won't be there. This is a difficult decision, but it's one I need to stand by."
Not every famous voice sided with Macklemore. Pop star Pink publicly criticized the rapper's onstage conduct, saying his rhetoric frightened her as a Jewish mother.
"I have never asked for another artist to be silenced and I'm not asking now... What I need is to be able to say, as a Jewish mom, that scared me, and it scared people I love."
Media expert Michael Levine, a former publicist, offered a blunter assessment: "Macklemore turned Ed Sheeran's concert into a political rally. Apparently, the one thing the crowd wanted freed was the stage."
Sheeran closed his statement by arguing that there is more than one way to advocate for peace. He said he chose to use his platform as "a place of safety and sanctuary, to maintain diplomacy and keep conversations open, not closed."
"If we only focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change. There are different approaches to being an advocate for change."
Macklemore, for his part, said the friendship with Sheeran was not necessarily over. But the tour, for all practical purposes, is. Eight venues drew a hard line. The promoter enforced it. Every opening act walked. And the celebrities who piled on Sheeran made clear that in their world, neutrality is not an option, only the approved position will do.
When the price of staying quiet is a public shaming campaign, and the price of speaking up is losing your stage, the people demanding "courage" might want to consider who is actually being silenced.
