Ed Sheeran Loop Tour Row: How Macklemore’s Gaza Speech Led to His Removal

The Ed Sheeran Loop tour became the unlikely stage for one of the summer’s most charged disputes in live music, after Macklemore’s pro-Palestinian remarks at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey led to his removal from the remaining US dates, a decision Sheeran has now addressed at length in a public Instagram post.

In his statement, Sheeran said he was ‘appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine,’ describing the situation as ‘a human tragedy’ on both sides. He was careful, however, to draw a clear line between his own position and the decision that ended Macklemore’s run on the tour. ‘Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,’ Sheeran wrote. ‘Macklemore’s contract for the tour was with the promoter, not me.’

What Happened at the New Jersey Shows

Macklemore used his performances on 4 and 5 September at MetLife Stadium to make an impassioned address in support of Palestinians, telling the crowd that people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank had not been forgotten. He then performed ‘Hind’s Hall’ while images depicting destruction in Gaza appeared on the stadium screens. As Newsweek has reported, ‘Hind’s Hall’ was itself inspired by pro-Palestinian student encampments at Columbia University, giving the song a particular weight in the context of an ongoing public debate about campus activism and the war.

The performances prompted an Israeli American Council petition calling for Macklemore’s removal from the remaining dates, on the grounds that a Sheeran concert should not become a platform for what the group characterised as a ‘one-sided political agenda.’ The controversy gathered further momentum when Pink reposted a call for Macklemore to be dropped from the bill.

What followed moved the dispute from the stage into the mechanics of the touring business. Messina Touring Group, promoter of the US leg, said venues on upcoming dates had informed the company they would not allow a concert with Macklemore on the lineup, a situation the promoter said could have resulted in cancellation of the tour and affected hundreds of thousands of fans. Macklemore had been scheduled to perform at eight of the remaining ten shows. The Messina Touring Group described the venue stance as final.

Sheeran’s Position on the Ed Sheeran Loop Tour Dispute

Sheeran wrote that he spent the week after the New Jersey shows trying to find a resolution, speaking with venues, promoters, and activists on both sides. Among those he spoke with was Robert Kraft, whom Sheeran identified as the New England Patriots owner. ‘I spoke with the venues at length all week to try and build a bridge,’ he wrote, adding that he was ‘involved in direct talks with promoters along with activists on both sides to try and find a mutual resolution for all.’ None of it produced an agreement.

His post was also a defence of his own approach to public life. Sheeran argued that there is ‘room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace,’ and that he chooses to use his platform as ‘a place of safety and sanctuary.’ The reason he does not speak publicly about politics, he said, is that his audience includes young people and children of all backgrounds who ‘do not expect a political forum.’ He acknowledged respecting Macklemore’s willingness to speak out, while maintaining that silence on his own part does not mean absence of opinion or care. ‘I am not complicit,’ he wrote.

The dispute adds an uncomfortable chapter to an otherwise straightforwardly successful tour. It is also a reminder of how different Macklemore’s public profile has become from the one he built a decade ago. The New York Times notes that his 2012 hit ‘Thrift Shop,’ released with his then-producer Ryan Lewis, helped the duo win four Grammy Awards, a version of mainstream visibility that now sits in sharp contrast to his willingness to risk exactly this kind of commercial fallout.

The Loop tour resumes on 19 September in Philadelphia, with Macklemore no longer on the bill. The remaining shows go ahead, and for Sheeran at least, the stated priority was ensuring the fans who had made plans, and the crew members who rely on the tour for their livelihoods, were not left without a show.