Sheeran Speaks, Openers Quit

What's happened

Ed Sheeran has returned to the stage in Philadelphia and has addressed the controversy after promoter Messina Touring Group removed Macklemore from remaining US dates following his onstage 'Free Palestine' remarks. Four supporting acts have withdrawn in solidarity, ticket sales have softened and some venues warned they would cancel shows if Macklemore remained on the bill.

What's behind the headline?

What really happened

Ed Sheeran has faced a promoter-led intervention that has reshaped his US stadium run. Promoters and venue owners have been exercising contractual control over line-ups; that pressure has forced the removal of Macklemore and has pushed remaining openers to withdraw.

Who is driving the story

• Stadium owners and promoters are driving short-term tour decisions by threatening cancellations.
• Artists who oppose Macklemore's removal are using withdrawal as leverage and public signalling.

Immediate consequences

• Ticket demand is falling and some prices have dropped, reducing near-term revenue for the tour.
• Sheeran is performing without his planned support acts, increasing pressure on his solo set and production.

Likely next steps

• Promoters will tighten contractual clauses for future stadium tours to retain control over politically charged opening acts. This will increase promoter leverage and reduce headline artists' control over guest performers.
• Artists will increasingly factor venue owner and promoter sensitivity into decisions about political speech on big stages; some performers will self-censor to avoid deplatforming.
• The dispute will push more public debate about the role of stadium owners in policing speech, prompting statements from industry groups and possibly revised booking practices.

Why it matters

This has shifted power away from headline artists toward venue owners and promoters for major stadium events. That will change how politically charged messages appear in large-scale live music, and it will make artists who want to speak on contentious issues decide between smaller stages or risking deplatforming at stadium-level tours.

How we got here

Macklemore shouted 'Free Palestine' and played a protest song at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 4-5. Venue owners, led publicly by Robert Kraft, pressured promoters to drop him; Messina Touring Group removed Macklemore on Sept. 14. Acts including Finneas, Beoga, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe have since pulled out in protest.

Our analysis

The coverage divides along two clear lines. The Guardian (Adrian Horton) and The Independent trace the sequence and show sympathetic quotes from artists who withdrew: Finneas wrote “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed” (Guardian). The Guardian also quoted openers such as Aaron Rowe and Beoga explaining their Irish perspective: Rowe wrote he could not "stand by" given Ireland's history of colonialism. BBC reporting (Nardine Saad and Carl Nasman) has focused on the commercial fallout, noting lower ticket sales and discounted seats, and that Sheeran has blamed promoters not himself. The Times of Israel, Arab News and The New Arab emphasise Sheeran's onstage statement in Philadelphia where he described Oct. 7, 2023, as "horrific" and called Gaza's situation "catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate," reporting that he has said he is "not complicit" in the decision to remove Macklemore. Axios framed the issue as a power struggle between promoters, venues and the headliner, writing that the turmoil “reveals the power dynamics behind major concert tours.” The New York Post and several opinion pieces cast the controversy as performers overreaching into politics and criticised Macklemore's approach; those pieces use sharper language and value judgments absent from straight reporting. Together the sources give a consistent timeline — Macklemore's Sept. 4-5 statements, venue pressure, Messina Touring Group's removal decision and the subsequent withdrawals — while differing in tone: some focus on commercial and logistical effects (BBC, Axios), others foreground artists' political motives and moral arguments (Guardian, Independent, The New Arab).

Go deeper

• Will Messina Touring Group or venue owners change booking rules after the backlash?
• Will headline acts negotiate clearer control over support-line politics in future contracts?

More on these topics

• Macklemore - American rapper and singer-songwriter (born 1983)

  Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( MAK-lə-mor; formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper. A native of Seattle, Washington, he started his career in 2000 as an independent artist releasing: Open Your Eyes (2000), The Language of My World (2005), and The Unplanned Mixtape (2009). He rose to international success collaborating with producer Ryan Lewis as the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (2009–2016). Macklemore's and Lewis's 2012 single "Thrift Shop" (featuring Wanz) became the first self-released song to peak the Billboard Hot 100 in 11 years. However, Macklemore, in a slightly unusual recording contract, paid a nominal percentage of sales to use Warner Bros. Records's radio promotion department to push his singles. Their second single, "Can't Hold Us" (featuring Ray Dalton), also peaked on chart, making Macklemore and Lewis the first duo in the chart's history to have their first two singles both reach the peak position. Their debut studio album The Heist (2012) peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, the duo won Best New Artist, Best Rap Album (The Heist), Best Rap Song ("Same...

• Ed Sheeran - Singer-songwriter

  Edward Christopher Sheeran MBE is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project.

• Israel - Country in the Middle East

  Israel, formally known as the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea.

• Gaza - Wikimedia disambiguation page

  Gaza most commonly refers to: Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip Gaza may also refer to:

• Robert Kraft - Chief Executive Officer of the New England Patriots

  Robert Kenneth Kraft is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate development and a priva

• New Jersey - US State

  New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania;

• MetLife Stadium - Football stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, home of the New York Giants and New York Jets

  New York New Jersey Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States, 5 mi (8 km) west of New York City. It opened in 2010, replacing Giants Stadium, and serves as the home for the New...

• Gillette Stadium - Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts

  Gillette Stadium is a stadium in the northeastern United States, located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, 28 miles southwest of downtown Boston and 20 miles northeast of downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

• Philadelphia - Largest city in Pennsylvania, United States

  Philadelphia ( FIL-ə-DEL-fee-ə), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a Census-estimated population of 1,574,281 in July 2025. The..

• Hamas

  Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist militant organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

• Lukas Graham - Pop band

  Lukas Graham is a Danish pop band consisting of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Lukas Forchhammer, bassist Magnus Larsson, and drummer Mark Falgren.

• West Bank

  The West Bank is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia, bordered by Jordan to the east and by Israel to the south, west and north. The West Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore.

• Gaza Strip

  The Gaza Strip, or simply Gaza, is a self-governing Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, that borders Egypt on the southwest for 11 kilometers and Israel on the east and north along a 51 km border.

• Columbia University - Private university in New York City, New York

  Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, Columbia is the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest institution of hig

• Beoga - Band

  Beoga are an Irish folk band. They were formed in County Kerry in 2002 at the All-Ireland Fleadh although the original four members of the band hail from County Antrim and County Londonderry in Northern Ireland.

• New England Patriots - American football team

  The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League as a member club of the league's American Football Conference East division.

• Aaron Rowe - Footballer

  Aaron Kevin Isaac Rowe is an English professional footballer who plays for Huddersfield Town as a winger.

• Billie Eilish - American singer-songwriter

  Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell is an American singer and songwriter. She first gained attention in 2015 when she uploaded the song "Ocean Eyes" to SoundCloud, which was subsequently released by the Interscope Records subsidiary Darkroom.

• New York Post - Newspaper

  The New York Post is a daily newspaper in New York City. The Post also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com and the entertainment site Decider.com. The modern version of the paper is published in tabloid format.

• Lincoln Financial Field - Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  Lincoln Financial Field is an American football stadium located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It serves as the home stadium of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League and the Temple Owls football team of Temple University.

• Pink - American singer-songwriter

  Alecia Beth Moore, known professionally as Pink, is an American singer and songwriter. She was originally a member of the girl group Choice. In 1995, LaFace Records saw potential in Pink and offered her a solo recording contract.

• Kraft Group - Professional sports company

  The Kraft Group, LLC, is a group of privately held companies in the professional sports, manufacturing, and real estate development industries doing business in 90 countries.

• United Nations - Intergovernmental organization

  The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization that aims to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.

• United States - Country in North America

  The United States of America, commonly known as the United States or America, is a country mostly located in central North America, between Canada and Mexico.

• New York - Wikimedia disambiguation page

  New York most commonly refers to: New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to:

• Finneas O'Connell - American singer-songwriter

  Finneas Baird O'Connell, known mononymously as Finneas, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has written and produced music for various artists, most notably his younger sister, Billie Eilish.

• Boy George - Singer-songwriter

  George Alan O'Dowd, known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, fashion designer, photographer and record producer. He is the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club.

• New Jersey Meadowlands - Region of New Jersey, U.S.

  New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of New York City.

• Benjamin Netanyahu - Prime Minister of Israel

  Benjamin Netanyahu is an Israeli politician serving as Prime Minister of Israel since 2009, and previously from 1996 to 1999. Netanyahu is also the Chairman of the Likud – National Liberal Movement.

• Stroudsburg - Borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States

  Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the state's Poconos region, approximately five miles from the Delaware Water Gap, at the confluence of the Brodhead, McMichaels and Pocono Creeks.

• Rolling Stone - Magazine

  Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.

• Seattle - City in Washington State

  Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. According to U.S.

• Israeli-American Council - Nonprofit organization

  The Israeli-American Council is an American nonprofit organization to represent and serve the approximately 125,000 Israeli-Americans.

• Ticketmaster - American ticket sales and distribution company

  Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with events/concert promoter Live Nation under the name Live...

• Joe Biden - President of the United States

  Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 and represented Delaware in the United States Senate

• The Independent - Newspaper

  The Independent is a British online newspaper that was established in 1986 as a national morning printed newspaper published in London. Nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis

• California - US State

  California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.5 million residents across a total area of about 163,696 square miles, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area, and is also the world's thirty-fourt