British singer Ed Sheeran was dropped on Tuesday by several artists participating in his tour, who are protesting against the decision to exclude rapper Macklemore after his pro-Palestinian remarks on stage. The singer Finneas, brother of Billie Eilish, the Irish artists Aaron Rowe and Beoga, and the Danish group Lukas Graham, have each announced in their turn to cancel their presence on Ed Sheeran's “Loop Tour”. And this, despite the explanations a few hours earlier from the star, who assured on social networks that the decision to exclude Macklemore from the tour “is a decision that comes from the promoter, it is not mine”.
The American rapper, who opened for the “Loop Tour”, launched the slogan “Free Palestine” and assured the Palestinians that they were “not forgotten” during two concerts in early September at MetLife Stadium, near New York. His forced departure from the tour is now turning into international controversy. “Artists must not be silenced when they speak out to defend the oppressed,” Finneas said on Instagram, saying he was “in solidarity with Palestine and its people.”
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The Irish group Beoga, responsible for accompanying Ed Sheeran on stage during the tour, justified its departure because of the “muzzling of Macklemore by Zionist lobbies”. “We are Irish people who understand colonialism,” added the group, a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause. Irish singer Rowe also cited his country's troubled history to explain his withdrawal. “As Irish people, we are all too familiar with genocide, famine and violent occupation,” he said.
“Anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagination”
For its part, the Danish group Lukas Graham denounced the pressure exerted by several stadium owners, who threatened to cancel Ed Sheeran's concerts if Macklemore continued to provide the opening act. “Money does not give you the right to monopolize the debate,” he said. “It’s not anyone’s bank balance that should decide who has the right to speak out or what suffering we are allowed to acknowledge.”
In his explanations, Ed Sheeran notably assured that he had spoken extensively with Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium in Boston and the New England Patriots American football team, without being able to find a solution. This businessman, who according to Macklemore convinced other stadiums to put pressure on him, explained in a press release that he would not “provide a platform for hate speech”. He accuses the rapper of conveying “anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagination” for a long time.
“I am not complicit”
Macklemore regularly describes the offensive carried out by Israel in Gaza, in retaliation for the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, as “genocide”. In 2024, he released Hind's Hall, a piece in tribute to Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl whose death sparked international outrage. His detractors accuse him of fueling anti-Semitic clichés. In 2014, the artist notably wore a costume with a big nose and a beard on stage, an incident for which he publicly apologized. They also point to the clip for his song Fucked up, released in 2025, where we see a puzzle combining a 100 dollar bill on one side and an Israeli flag on the other.
On Tuesday, Ed Sheeran explained that he "respects Macklemore's strength of conviction", while defending his decision not to speak publicly on political subjects, notably on the war in Gaza. “I am not complicit. I have my personal opinions on this devastating conflict. It’s not because I choose not to express myself publicly that I don’t have one, or that I don’t feel concerned,” he explained. But “those who come to my shows don’t expect to participate in a political forum,” he added.
