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Ed Sheeran tour drops Macklemore after his onstage support for Palestine
(theneedledrop.com)
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this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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So Ed Sheeran is a piece of shit, eh?
"American Venues"
Not sure who's calling the shots here
EDIT:
Nothing says "good guy" like compromising your principles for money, right? tf is your argument here?
It's likely not up to him as he has contractual obligations that could ruin more than just his own livelihood.
The whole system is fucked. Rotten to the core
EDIT: these replies are peak left self harm.
Macklemore: free Palestine
NFL Stadium Owners: drop Macklemore or we'll cancel your show
label and tour management: we can't lose all these venues, so Macklemore has to go
Lemmy community: how could Ed Sheeran do this??
Like, how about we point our anger at the people actually causing the problem, instead of the guy trying to salvage his tour in a no-win situation because of racist fucks
Won’t somebody think of the millionaires? His whole livelihood is at stake here!
And it's not like his livelihood is even at massive risk - he's a big enough name that any arena worth his time to perform at will be big enough that there won't be other acts available that will sell enough seats at short notice, so they're pretty likely to cave if he puts his foot down.
THIS is the part that gets me. Ed could have come at Kraft and the other venue owners and threw some hate to ticketmaster for good measure and probably come out fine
I don't really care about him, but this line of thinking creates assumptions and expectations that are almost never going to be met. He is one of the wealthiest musicians, he isn't just a performer, he is a businessman. If he was willing to risk or limit the success of his brand for his views (assuming his views are pro palestine), he probably wouldn't be in the position he is in.
At the end of the day, it is a mainly systemic issue, not an issue of moral failiure. Some individuals will push against the systemic currents, but this will always be the exception, not the rule.
The only way to combat systemic issue is by changing/replacing the system through collective action, not individual action. Ed Sheeran chancling his tour in solidarity with Palestine would not stop western nations from supporting israel. The only way is a nations citizens collectively applying pressure.
If becoming one of the world's wealthiest musicians requires prioritisation of your brand over improving the world in ways you absolutely have the power to do, then becoming a wealthy musician is absolutely a sign of moral failure. It's also not even necessarily detrimental to the brand to associate it with acting morally - that only made Dolly Parton more beloved.
There is no if, that's generally how it works. As I said, there are always exceptions, but when you are a super famous pop star on a major label, you probably ended up there because you do what your label/manager tells you to do, not because you alienate part of your fanbase/boss/business associates.
I don't even fundamentally disagree, I just think you are setting a moral standard that unfortunately will not be upheld by a majority of people if they were given the chance, which means you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Most people would choose not to swim against the current and take a "neutral stance" (or whatever stance their boss wants to them to take) over risking their career, that’s just how most humans work.
That’s why it is useless to expect CEO’s, politicians, business owners, etc, to act according to your morals. They act based on incentives, and the only way to make them act according to your morals to some degree is by forcing them to.
If your entire brand is “I’m a pop musician who makes unprovocative pop music for everyone and don’t make public statements about controversial political issues“, it can absolutely be detrimental..
I really don’t think it’s that surprising: Venue owners band together and tell that multiple concerts of your huge tour with 15 support acts is essentially chanceled unless you kick one support act. For pretty much any tour promoter/organizer/manager, the decision is obvious..
To be honest, I’m hardly familiar with Dolly Parton, but wasn’t she famously silent on controversial political issues? At least I found this quote from her sister
"You know, I’ll tell everything, and I like everybody know what I think about it, not her. Because she’s a good businesswoman. She’s a good businesswoman.”
I also didn’t find any comment on Israel or Palestine from her, so I’m not sure why you are using her as an example, maybe I’m missing something? Because it seems to me that maybe she was beloved across the political spectrum because she didn’t publicly speak out on controversial issues..
Those same contractual obligations should apply to the stadium owners.
Is he responsible for his obligations if the stadium refuses him? Sounds to me like he would have made an effort to meet his contract, but someone else refused him.
Honest question, I have no idea how these things work, but have a hard time believing Sheeran had no choice but to give in
Separate contracts. Sheeran's contract and Macklemore's contract are unlikely to be contingent on each other. Plus there are probably terms in the contract regarding conditions under which the venue is allowed to break the contract "for cause" which Macklemore's situation likely breaches
good thing the earth is so tiny and most of the universe completely misses this shit.
I would tell the "system" to get bent. Ed Sheeran doesn't have to do anything. It's his tour, if they don't want to allow him to perform over human rights, that's on them.
If this is true, I'm going to remove every Ed Sheeran song from my music library.
If Robert Kraft and the other stadium owners break tour contracts over a "we don't like your opener" thing after they already signed, it'll be huge fees and possibly a lawsuit. Ed Sheeran had leverage here and he didn't use it.
His record label had the leverage and chose not to use it. There's very little say the artists themselves actually have in these kinds of things.
This isn't some starving artist we're talking about here. This guy already has more money than you'll make in your entire life working an honest job.
He already has a name, time to cut loose?
All them big name artists could put their money where their mouth isn't and build a venue, i'm sure it wouldn't make Bono any poorer.
This is, actually not a bad idea. Someone send this to someone like Jack White. Get together a bunch of top musicians to actually fund the creation of a network of publicly owned venues. They can share resources and even pay artists real wages for performances. Call it a public option. Just needs the seed money
It's not like Macklemore has been quiet about his stance on Palestine. If it were a problem with Ed Sheeran, he probably wouldn't have been on the tour in the first place.
Yeah but Sheeran is willing to bend the knee to keep the tour going. A real one would apologize to fans and let it be known it's the venue owners cancelling shows and why.
It's not like he's some Indy act who won't get more shows.
Ed is a brand, not a talent.
Watch. If he had refused to go on without Macklemore, these guys would've said "oh the rich baby didn't want to go on because Macklemore said Palestine" or some shit.
Blame the rich fucks for their crimes; don't invent new catch-22s to hang on them.
If "these guys" you're talking about are Zionists, then I don't think he should care what kind of vitriol they try to brew up for him. In fact, pissing them off is often the correct stance.
…and then Sheeran chose wrong.
So a piece of shit
zionists are calling the shots in “american venues”
According to Macklemore, Sheeran was told by venues to cut him, or cancel the whole tour. Sheeran tries to remain non-political as part of his brand. But it really feels like we're up against the sad point where, if just saying "don't genocide people" makes you "political", then refusing to be political makes you a piece of shit.
I think a lot of artists are still riding this line between staying safe and potentially nuking their entire career. I won't act like that's an easy decision for anyone to make, but obviously looking from the outside it's easy to see what the right decision is.
Time will tell. There's still time for Ed to walk out on stage at his biggest show of the tour, throw a fist in the air, and say Free Palestine. I've had zero thoughts about him up until this point, but that would at least give me one shred of respect for him.
Honestly, this would flip the tables on the venues (ahem, LiveNation)...they're ok throwing their weight around to get Macklemore dropped from tours, but Ed Sheeran is making them tens of millions of dollars...they would probably shut the fuck up if he did this.
Adam Sandler: He's not going to though
Chris Farley: No, but you can imagine what it would be like if he did.
Yeah that's bullshit. And there's no such thing as being "neutral", you're just choosing the side of the oppressor.
That was my thought exactly!
I know precious little about him, but he sounds like a real dick.
It seems like it's the venues that won't let Mackelmore play.
From the tour promoters.
and Sheeran should refuse to work with those stakeholders
Ah yes, the most important part of music: stakeholders.
The articles made it seem like the venues forced Sheeran to drop macklemore. Sheeran may not have had a say.
He could tell the venues if they wanted to cancel his opening acts, they could cancel his show, too. That would require someone to have principles, though. 🤷♂️
he can play somewhere else
I realize that the state of touring venues is pretty fucked up, but someone with his sway is the only kind of person who can say "you know what, no, fuck you guys"
He sounds famous. I think he has some say. Of course so do venues, but I'd expect Ed Sheeran to have no problem finding other venues.
My conclusion from this is that Ed Sheeran supports genocide and that Macklemore is cooler than I thought.
Robert Kraft is the piece of shit here