Ed Sheeran's tour of his latest album is embroiled in controversy, after one of his supporting acts - Macklemore - was cut from the tour over comments he made about Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. High profile artists have weighed in to alternatively support or condemn the decision, which was made by the owner of several stadiums where Sheeran is scheduled to perform.
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TRANSCRIPT
If you have heard or seen headlines about Ed Sheeran and a controversy - you may wonder what it's all about.
The first thing to say is that at its centre, this is a complex and evolving story - and it represents a larger movement happening in the celebrity and pop culture sphere.
This particular story began with two words.
This is American artist, Macklemore speaking at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on the 4th of September [[2026]].
He's been a supporting act for U-K popstar Ed Sheeran on his Loop tour.
"One of the reasons why I wanted to come on this tour was because I wanted to stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine ."
The backlash was almost immediate.
The Israeli-American Council and the Anti-Defamation League both criticised the remarks, with the former launching a petition urging Ed Sheeran to sack his opening act.
The petition argued Macklemore was using a music concert to push a one-sided political agenda.
Then came the venue owners - including Kraft Group's CEO, billionaire Robert Kraft - whose company owns major stadiums and allegedly led the call to ban Macklemore from performing at Sheeran's remaining tour dates.
Sheeran released his own statement. This is a voice actor.
"My music has brought together people from all backgrounds and cultures. Fans who buy tickets to my shows do not expect a political forum. 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.”
Another famous popstar joined the debate early - Pink reposting criticism of Macklemore's speech.
That move drew another wave of commentary and criticism aimed at her.
The artist - whose real name is Alicia Moore - then issued a statement on Instagram.
This is part of that statement, voiced by an actor.
"Last weekend he stood in front of a stadium full of music-loving families, with violent images from a war on the screens, dedicated a song to the movement of his choice, and then took the mic to tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them. You don’t get to decide that for us.That’s what prompted my repost. Not ‘Free Palestine,’ and not anyone’s right to say it. I have never asked for another artist to be silenced and I’m not asking now. I don’t need anyone fired, and I don’t need a refund. What I need is to be able to say, as a Jewish mom, that scared me, and it scared people I love, without being told our fear is just propaganda, and without being told I’m somehow cool with genocide because I noticed?"
Macklemore - a Grammy Award winning rapper whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty - gave this summary of the situation on his Instagram page. This isn't his voice.
"Last Monday, amid all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at Metlife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft had called him. We were scheduled to play at Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft told him I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. He also told me that Kraft had rallied some other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: If Macklemore stays on the tour you won't be able to play in our venues."
Robert Kraft's own public response included reference to a previous record of what he described as Macklemore's history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.
In 2014, the rapper was criticised for wearing a costume that featured Jewish stereotypes.
Macklemore apologised at the time and said he didn’t intend to impersonate a Jewish person.
But the saga is further complicated by Kanye West - the artist now known as Ye - being given the go-ahead to perform at one of the venues refusing to host Macklemore over alleged antisemitism.
Kanye performed at Raymond James Stadium in Florida in June.
West has been deplatformed from major social media sites for antisemitic commentary and hate speech.
A full year (May 2025) before performing at the Florida venue, he released a song called "Heil Hitler", which was pulled from major streaming platforms including Spotify.
At the time, Joshua Washington, director of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, gave interviews about West's actions, speaking with US outlet CBN.
In a 2025 interview, Mr Washington said he believed West's repeated use of hate speech against Jewish people was not a veiled commentary, but a pattern of blatant antisemitism.
"So him putting all this in a song, it is really hard for me to see he is making a different point when he has been directly saying these things in talks with interviewers, like this one that we're having now."
Macklemore had been due to perform at eight of the 10 shows Sheeran still has left on his stadium tour, scheduled to resume this weekend (September 19) in Philadelphia - and it is set to return with no support acts.
Among the artists to publicly throw their weight behind Macklemore - all planned support acts for the Loop tour have publicly withdrawn in protest.
Myles Smith has already completed his run of shows as Sheeran’s support act for this tour - but he threw his support behind them.
Via his own social media statement, he said the the real story is not about a conflict between famous popstars. This is not his voice.
“You can mourn Jewish trauma and still condemn the bombing of Palestinian children.
You can reject antisemitism and still reject occupation, collective punishment and the killing of civilians. You can understand why Israeli civilians carry fear, while saying plainly that Palestinians are suffering on a catastrophic scale and deserve freedom, safety, dignity and self-determination.”
Singer Billy Bragg told the BBC he thinks the stadium owner's move to pressure Sheeran to drop Macklemore as his support act was an own-goal.
"He's created this huge debate, so on that level it has been terribly self-deating. But on an another level, it is great to see young artists stand in solidarity with Macklemore. Because I think, ultimately, culture has to reflect the way the world is and that is what Macklemore was trying to do. It is what we all try to do and I don't think he should be punished for that."
The rapper says he will donate $1 million (USD) - his entire earnings from the dates he has performed on Sheeran's tour - to six Palestinian relief organisations, asking billionaire Robert Kraft to match the contribution.
Kraft answered the call via social media and this a voice over of his written statement.
“I’ve dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people. I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting.
Earlier today, before Macklemore challenged me to match his donation, Ed called me and asked me to commit $2 million to match his donation to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis. Ed now plans to reach out to other venue owners and our goal is to continue to work together to build bridges.”
Opinions on Israel's actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, has become a divisive issue in the celebrity sphere and beyond.
And it is not going anywhere any time soon.
