Ed Sheeran Concert, Bangalore, February 2025. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

If you are a person with access to the internet, you could not have missed the controversies around Ed Sheeran over the past few weeks.

For those who need a refresher

For the last couple of years, Rapper Macklemore has been one of the most vocal artists speaking about the genocide in Palestine and the liberation of its people from apartheid. So it should not come as a surprise to anyone that he voiced his support of a free Palestine during his opening act for Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour. During his performance of Hind’s Hall, images of Palestine were shown on a screen.

One day later, he directly addressed the Jewish members of the audience by saying: “To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.” He further explained that his message “is for peace, love, for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality.”

The Israeli-American Council, however, did not see these messages as appropriate. They started a petition asking Ed Sheeran to remove Macklemore from the tour. Singer Pink then entered the discussion, sharing a message to her Instagram story criticising Macklemore. This led to the internet doing what the internet does; on one side people were telling Macklemore to drop out of the tour, while the other side stood with him, thanking him for using his platform in any way he can.

After a couple of days of angry posts from all over the internet, either at Macklemore, or Ed Sheeran, or Pink, Macklemore revealed that he was dropped from the Loop tour.

“Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour,” Macklemore begins his statement on Instagram.

“I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim.”

Of course, a lot of people criticised Ed for giving in to a billionaire’s demands. More specifically Robert Kraft’s – owner of Gillette Stadium, where the next tour stop would be. According to Macklemore’s post, Kraft gave Sheeran an ultimatum, making it clear that he would not be allowed to perform in Gillette Stadium with Macklemore opening for him.

“[Ed] 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.” – Macklemore via Instagram.

Within hours of Macklemore’s announcement, Sheeran’s remaining opening acts began announcing that they too would leave the tour. That includes Irish band Beoga, singers Finneas and Aaron Rowe, and Danish band Lukas Graham. Beoga posted on their Instagram:

“We are a traditional Irish band who never saw ourselves playing in stadiums of that size and that opportunity is not lost on us. […] We are Irish people who understand colonialism. As founding members of the Irish Artists For Palestine movement, we are committed activists for justice and will continue to be.”

The pressure was on for Sheeran, who had just lost all his supporting acts for the rest of the
tour.

Fence-sitting 101 with Ed Sheeran

Sheeran was now facing a new problem: his own supposed apolitical stance. Not only because claiming to be apolitical about a genocide is bad enough, but also because people have unearthed evidence of Ed Sheeran using his platform for politics. After all, he himself performed Same Love with Macklemore in 2014, before same-sex marriage was legalised nationwide in the United States. Careful, Ed, that’s almost a statement.

Sheeran’s own statement, that he shared to his personal Instagram account, seemed very woe is me, after everything. He tried to make it clear that the decision to drop Macklemore wasn’t his; it was the promoter’s. And while that may be true, people are still upset with him about letting a billionaire dictate who he has in his shows and for allowing Macklemore to be removed from the tour because of what he said.

While it was uncertain how Sheeran would go on without his band or his opening acts, the tour continued without another hitch just this past Saturday. In the beginning of the Show, Ed spoke to his audience once more about everything that had transpired the days prior.

Reading from a teleprompter, eyes filled with (crocodile?) tears, the singer said: “I am deeply worried about the idea that venues pre-approve content of performers. This happens in so many places that I perform around the world but it should never happen in the free world.” Yes. He, who let Robert Kraft decide who could and could not take the stage with him, was suddenly very concerned about censorship. Funny how that works.

Make being political great again

Since Macklemore announced that he was dropped from The Loop tour, he gained over two million followers on Instagram, while Sheeran lost about 300,000. Not only that, but Irish radio station Classic Hits Radio also announced that they would not be playing Ed Sheeran’s music for a while, following their listeners’ requests. Dave Kelly, who is Group Programme Director at Bay Broadcasting, said:

“Ultimately, our position is a simple one. We believe in peace, humanity and respect, and in the right of people and artists to express and act upon their sincerely held views. In light of the strength of feeling expressed by our listeners and the decisions taken by Irish artists involved in the tour, we believe removing Ed Sheeran’s music from our playlist is the appropriate decision for Classic Hits Radio at this time.”

The general consensus across online platforms seems to be that being apolitical is no longer enough. In a time when artists and celebrities have millions of people listening to them, choosing not to speak is still a choice. And so is deciding whose voice gets to be heard. Macklemore chose to use his stage to say “Free Palestine.” His tourmates chose to walk away from theirs. And Sheeran, despite insisting that he did not make the decision to remove Macklemore, now finds himself at the centre of a debate about exactly how apolitical an artist can afford to be. Maybe being apolitical really is becoming uncool again.