Ed Sheeran finally broke his silence on the Macklemore situation, and his statement reveals the impossible position he was put in by billionaire venue owners who essentially held his entire tour hostage.
The British pop star didn’t mince words about what went down behind the scenes, laying out how the pressure campaign unfolded and why he ultimately had to remove the rapper from the remaining dates. He made clear that his respect for Macklemore as an artist was genuine and that he’d given him the freedom to perform whatever setlist he wanted, as he had with all his other support acts.
But then the venues started calling. After Macklemore’s performances at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he shouted “Free Palestine” and flew a Palestinian flag, the situation escalated fast. He spent an entire week trying to find middle ground, talking with venue operators, promoters, and activists on both sides of the conflict. The real pressure came from Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner who controls Gillette Stadium.
According to Ed Sheeran, Kraft had “rallied some of the other stadium owners” and collectively gave Sheeran an ultimatum: keep Macklemore on the tour or lose access to their venues entirely. That’s not a suggestion. That’s a threat to cancel hundreds of thousands of dollars in shows and disappoint hundreds of thousands of fans.
