Μake us preferred on Google English musician Ed Sheeran’s concert tour took a blow Tuesday when several of his supporting acts quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who was dropped after making pro-Palestinian comments onstage.
Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, the Danish band Lukas Graham, and the American musician Finneas all said they would no longer tour with Sheeran. The three acts are the only supporting performers listed on the tour’s website. The Irish folk group Beoga also said it would no longer serve as Sheeran’s band.
“Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” Finneas, who is the brother of singer Billie Eilish, said on social media. A representative for Sheeran didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 43-year-old Macklemore, known for early 2010s hits such as “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us,” made several comments about Gaza while opening for Sheeran earlier this month at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. He thanked Columbia University students who led pro-Palestinian encampments and said criticism of Israel wasn’t an attack on Jewish people.
View this post on Instagram
“Free Palestine,” he said. “I want those words to be loud and clear, so the people from Gaza all the way to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them.”
On Monday, Macklemore said he had been removed from the tour after several stadium owners—including Robert Kraft , whose Kraft Group owns Gillette Stadium—told Sheeran’s team he wouldn’t be allowed to perform at their venues if Macklemore stayed on the tour. Sheeran’s Loop Tour is headed to Kraft’s stadium in Foxborough, Mass., for concerts on Sept. 25 and 26.
Kraft, 85 years old, said in a statement that he thought allowing Macklemore to perform at Gillette after his comments would cross a line.
Sheeran, 35, confirmed he had received an ultimatum from venue owners, but said he wasn’t the one who decided to pull Macklemore. “Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,” he said in a post on social media.
The singer-songwriter also defended his decision not to comment on the Israel-Hamas war. “I have my personal views on this devastating conflict,” he wrote. “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.”
FILE PHOTO: Ed Sheeran performs during the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball concert at Madison Square Garden, in New York City, U.S., December 12, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/File Photo
Artists have faced significant scrutiny for the positions they have taken—or not taken—concerning the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel and the conflict that followed. Last year, the punk duo Bob Vylan sparked uproar in England for chanting “Death to the IDF” at the Glastonbury music festival, a reference to the Israel Defense Forces. The show was broadcast live on the BBC.
The Loop tour began in January in New Zealand, and carried on through Australia and parts of Central and South America before heading to the U.S. and Canada. It is scheduled to finish this December.
Sheeran’s past tours have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. His three-year-long Mathematics Tour grossed $857.7 million, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, and his Divide Tour netted $776.4 million.
The 10 shows he performed this February for his current tour grossed more than $70.8 million, Billboard said.
Write to Victoria Albert at victoria.albert@wsj.com
