To feel sorry for Ed Sheeran.....

[mids2019]

So Ed Sheeran's tour is in tatters simply because he believes music for entertainment and personally he likes to keep politics out of it (as many many stars do).

Simply because his support wanted to highlight the oppressed people of Iran and the use of capital punishment to stifle dissent support wanted to bring up Gaza without any reference to the start of the war due to a massacre on October 7th and Ed didn't want that he is suddenly the bad guy? Perhaps Ed succumbed to sing of thinking of Jews in the audience and the connotations of 'Free Paelstine' he is now on the naughty step of virtue signallers.

So all those Sheeran fans could lose out seeing someone they have waited months to see because some humpty has to jump on the Gaza bandwagon with a few trite soundbites as part of his act (because hey the ME isn't complicated) to look a bit radical or whatever. Bloody disgrace.

Did you read what he said? Where did he call for the abortion of your religious homeland?

I wish more celebrities took Ed Sheeran's non-political performance stance. Macklemore was a shit friend to shove the issue down the throats of Ed's fans, who came to enjoy some light musical entertainment.

They don’t have to respect that.

Brendan ONeill’s article in Spiked is good
www.spiked-online.com/2026/09/16/ed-sheeran-macklemore-and-the-tyranny-of-the-israel-haters/

Nope. He’s spineless, his “I don’t take a side” thing falls apart when you realise he’s supported causes that worked for his image.

I’m with you OP.

Huge respect for Macklemore.
anyone who knows his music would be less than thrilled if he didn’t speak up about social and political issues.

I get it is a difficult one for anyone personally, although by not picking a side, he's picked his side.

The request was absurd and utterly disproportionate - 'Free Palestine' is not a phrase denoting threat to either Israel or Jewish people (I'm Jewish for those who don't know), Sheeran could afford to stand up for free speech and for Palestinian people, but he chose not to. Though I get there is potentially a lot of blowback for him (for example, under the current American regime I can see there being a lot of effort to blacklist him for this). But still it would have been nice to see some moral courage on show from someone who could retire tomorrow and be set for life.

He didn’t keep out of politics when it came to Ukraine.

It’s really satisfying watching him find out after fucking around.

Nobody was going to see him though, were they?

Fair enough on his own headline gig.

Coward. He doesn’t need the money. There’s a genocide going on and he has a platform. “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” Elie Wiesel

No sympathy.
He booked Macklemore and Beoga knowing their passionate views and then bowed to Robert Kraft who is in the Epstein files

Macklemore’s stance on Palestine was hardly a surprise. He released Hind’s Hall in 2024. Even if they weren’t friends, when presumably Macklemore has made his stance more than clear, Ed’s team should have conducted their due diligence on any support acts and decided if they wanted to risk political views demonstrated in the tour. They could have made Macklemore sign a contract that there would be no political discussion and if they had, the statement would have been a very neutral “we have adopted an apolitical stance and asked all support acts to not make political statements. Macklemore was in violation of this part of the contract”.

Ed is not apolitical as he would like to appear. He took part in a charity concert for Ukraine and yes, it is not seen as anti-Russian to be pro-Ukraine. He has also publicly backed some more controversial topics including Brexit and his support for Jeremy Corbyn. Some of his songs are political, such as A team and he has previously worked to raise the issue of sex workers. He has put his face, his music into many political situations. He does so when he doesn’t believe it will cost him money.

He is also not cancelled. His tour isn’t in tatters. The tour is still going ahead. The supporting acts are allowed to pull from the tour if they don’t want to have their political opinions stifled. This isn’t the first time that support acts have had to be juggled last minute, what do think happens if an artist is ill or their own music has suddenly taken off and that means they need to do their own shows. I don’t feel sorry for a multi-millionaire with a support team having to do some last minute juggling of support acts but will ultimately still deliver his tour and make more money.

This isn’t a guy new to the business without a team around him, struggling to get his big break. This is someone with the resources (staff and money) to ensure that if this wasn’t what he supported, to see those views weren’t aired.

He’s spineless. I have completely lost respect for him. I am sure he’s happy counting his millions and doesn’t care about what any of us think though.

You love and respect the fact that he's hated jews for years.
Ok

He is right to keep politics out of his show.

If people want to demonstrate in any way outside of the show, that is fine. But people are paying to be entertained and should not have political views shoved down their throats.

I am behind him on this.

I was at a live concert the other day and one of the acts said something similar (I will not say on which side) but it felt inappropriate to me.

I do sympathise with Sheeran. He has been put in an impossible position because someone he helped out by giving the opportunity of a lifetime chose to repay Ed by boosting his own profile gobbling off about Israel / Palestine. Either Macklemore didn’t understand the possible consequences of his comments for Sheeran, who had done him a massive favour by hiring him & giving him a platform, or he didn’t care. Neither reflects well on him.

Entertainers are entitled to speak about politics. They are also entitled to choose not to. Generally the latter is preferable because the opinions the do express invariably amount to naive, ill informed virtue signalling. Sheeran’s sensible, well argued statement shows he is obviously bright & well informed enough to understand this. Macklemore should have saved his comments for his own concerts, rather than attempting to sabotage his benefactor’s tour.

The thing that annoys me about the whole situation (that everyone has totally ignored whilst taking sides...) is that Macklemore hijacked SOMEONE ELSE'S platform, that they built, with fans there to see them, to spread his message, without discussing it with his so called friend, which left Ed to deal with the fallout.
I'm sorry but that is a dick move! You wanna preach (and I do not disagree with the message) use your own platform. If your very famous friend offers you the opportunity to support them on a massive tour... you don't throw them under the bus. I had literally never heard of him before this and he now has all this fame off of someone's back.
Could Ed have responded better yes, but I would have been so p*ssed off in his position and it annoys me every is ignoring that!

did he say he hates Jews? Or did he say he’s against genocide , apartheid and Israeli occupation and aggression?

Free Palestine' is not a phrase denoting threat to either Israel or Jewish people (I'm Jewish for those who don't know)

My Jewish friend was very disturbed indeed and felt threatened by someone thrusting just such a leaflet into her hands.

We do not know how others might react to political statements and if someone has paid to be entertained then that is what should happen - entertainment.

There are plenty of other platforms where views can be expressed and broadcast without these intruding on a concert.

Entertainers are entitled to speak about politics - but not as a support act to someone else's show without asking their permission. There are plenty of other forums in which they can broadcast their views and they have a right to do so.

It was a dick move, It wasnt his platform to preach from.

If it was the first time he expressed these views I would agree with the pp but he has been vocal for years. There seems to be no suggestion in any statement that he was asked not to say anything.

Beoga also were a founder member of Irish Artists for Palestine.

I’m heartened by Ed’s supporting bands- Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Beoga, Lukas Graham,and for all who backed Macklemore and spoke out against the war in Gaza. Both sides need to stop the war. I do not support violence on either sides, and importantly people shouldn’t be silenced in speaking out. The taking over of Gaza and the violence and killing of innocent people and forcing people to leave breaks international law.