Ed Sheeran has long been known as the “Mr Nice Guy” of music. His is an unthreatening kind of pop stardom; he looks and talks like the bloke who might be standing behind you in a pub, rather than someone selling out stadiums. He champions other artists, he celebrates different cultures.
His songs are about love, heartbreak and friendship. People get engaged at his concerts. But this week, one of the most successful musicians in the world faced the biggest controversy of his career, and found himself dragged into exactly the kind of political row he has spent his career avoiding.
It began when Macklemore, the Grammy-winning rapper supporting Sheeran on the US leg of his Loop tour, used his set at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to call for a “free Palestine”. He performed Hind’s Hall, his 2024 protest song for a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces, while footage of pro-Palestine student demonstrations and destruction in Gaza played behind him. The backlash was immediate.
The StopAntisemitism group accused Macklemore of “ambushing” fans with “anti-Israel propaganda”, a post amplified by the singer Pink. The Israeli-American Council called for him to be pulled from the tour, asking where the line should be drawn “when an opening act uses a global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda”. There was extra heat given Macklemore’s history: in 2014 he performed in a fake beard, wig and prosthetic nose widely read as a Jewish caricature.
He was soon dropped from the remaining tour dates. But then Macklemore turned the story on Sheeran, accusing his friend of a “determination not to take sides publicly”, and claiming Robert Kraft – owner of the New England Patriots – had pressured Sheeran by threatening to pull his stadium from the tour dates and urging other venues to do the same. Sheeran’s team confirmed multiple venues had objected to Macklemore staying on the bill.
Kraft, a prominent supporter of Israel and founder of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, has a personal relationship with Sheeran, who sang at his 2022 wedding. In a phone call with Sheeran, the billionaire reportedly acknowledged the sensitivity of Gaza but argued Macklemore’s remarks crossed into hate speech. I’ve lost all of those things.
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