Ed Sheeran’s Opening Acts Quit Tour After Macklemore Dropped Over “Free Palestine” Remarks

Ed Sheeran’s international tour is in turmoil after rapper Macklemore was dropped from the remaining US dates over his onstage support for Palestine. This prompted all of Sheeran’s other opening acts to quit in protest.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, announced Monday he would bar Macklemore from performing there this month. Macklemore, who had made pro-Palestinian remarks during earlier New Jersey tour stops, said he’d since been removed from the rest of Sheeran’s American tour entirely.

The backlash was immediate. Producer Finneas, singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, the band Beoga, and Lukas Graham all withdrew from their opening slots in solidarity.

“Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” Finneas wrote on Instagram. “I stand with Palestine and its people.”

Macklemore, best known for “Thrift Shop,” has publicly supported Palestinian rights since Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza began after October 7.

Macklemore blamed Kraft directly, alleging he pressured other stadium owners into an ultimatum against Sheeran. Kraft, a vocal Israel supporter who previously pulled funding from Columbia University over its handling of Gaza protests, confirmed the cancellation but didn’t address that claim.

Sheeran, meanwhile, pointed to the tour’s promoter. “Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,” he wrote on Instagram, adding that venues had threatened to pull the shows if Macklemore stayed on.

Legal experts note private venue owners are within their rights to choose performers. Lee Rowland of the National Coalition Against Censorship called the episode a sign of a bigger problem.

Macklemore has drawn support from Reps. Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal, along with musicians Zara Larsson and PinkPantheress. In his own statement, he redirected focus to Gaza’s death toll, now over 70,000, many of them women and children.

“[Sheeran] told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood.”