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Ed Sheeran – ‘Endgame’ or ‘Get Over It’?

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It’s all gone south for everyone’s favourite scruffy ginger troubadour. Since the owner of the stadium where he was due to perform banned the support act, Macklemore, from appearing due to his pro-Palestine presentation and content, other support acts on the tour – and even members of Ed’s band (didn’t know he had one?) have all withdrawn in solidarity. The owner in question, Robert Kraft, is a lovely individual who happened to be a close friend/enabler/ protector of Jeffrey Epstein. Most other venues and promoters have followed suit, a point that Ed has been at pains to argue. It’s not really working; whilst some, including the parties concerned, have expressed an element of empathy for his ‘neutral’ position, he is roundly getting a good kicking on the socials.
So, is he a cowardly Zionist shill who has put money before principles, or just an artist caught up in a political storm not of his making?

Over to you, The Massive.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/15/ed-sheeran-macklemore-palestine-openers-finneas?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

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Comments

  1. He is neither I suspect. He has probably tried to resolve it, failed and will now have to cancel his tour dates without getting any political kudos one way or the other. The issue is clearly with the venue owners driving a political agenda.

    It does seem that Sheeran has been very open and honest and, it would seem from Macklemore’s statement, that Macklemore does not blame Sheeran. I predict that Sheeran will cancel and be much more specific in the obligations of promoters and venue owners in future.

  2. I read about this on the BBC webpage earlier, naturally the words “anti-semitic” came up from pro-Israel groups when discussing Macklemore. How about “anti-genocide”?

  5. My inclination would be to just cancel the whole bloody tour. Why tour when you are at the mercy of thin-skinned, right-wing douche-bags who only have their eyes on the money? Check your insurance policy, Ed, and get out now.

    • Unless he can rustle up Pink or Boy George as support acts that would presumably pass muster with Kraft, seems he might have to sack the whole thing off. I understand even his backing band have walked.

  6. I’m surprised that a series of venue owners can go so far as override the small print which Sheeran’s presumably hugely expensive lawyers went over in terms of who can play what and where. In terms of cancellation, mind, it’s not just Ed who loses out – it’s his crew, the venue staff, the local hospitality sector and anyone who’s arranged a hotel, holiday or babysitter in order to attend. He’s been put in a very unfortunate no-win situation, and not wholly of his own making.

  7. I’m not sure Ed should shoulder the blame for someone putting a bunch of Kool Kidz on the undercard and not realising that would upset the moneybagz. But hey ho maybe musicians are supposed to understand this stuff now.

  9. Making any sort of statement as a public figure is just impossible now. To quote someone, it’s like being a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. And it’s even more intractable on an issue where both sides have been the perpetrators and recipients of horrid deeds.

    So despite knowing nothing of Sheeran besides a) the Marvin Gaye plagiarism case, and b) numerous industry reports that he is a nice guy, I can’t help but feel a little sorry for him.

  10. These free speech issues are always interesting, but on this occasion it doesn’t seem that anyone has actually done much wrong.

    Robert Kraft, odious though he is, is entitled to prevent specific political views being expressed in venues he owns. If I own a pub and I discover that the band I’ve booked end every gig with a hearty cry of “stop the boats”, I should be allowed to cancel the booking.

    That said, Kraft going round encouraging others to do likewise is probably a bit of a dick move, and the point at which proceedings cross the line into cancel culture. It’s also massively blown up in his face in this instance, as he’s effectively ended up shining a massive spotlight on the statement he was attempting to curtail. Which is amusing.

    Macklemore – obviously – is entitled to express his political views at his shows, and elsewhere. Which is what he has consistently done. As a side note, I enjoyed whoever it was who said this week that Macklemore represents an unusual inversion of the principle of separating the art from the artist, in which it’s the music you have to try to ignore.

    Ed Sheeran is the interesting party in this instance, which is a statement one never expects to have to write.

    Is he entitled not to take a position on the political issue at hand? Obviously. There is no surer a sign that someone is spending too much of their life online than the proposition “silence is complicity”. It’s an utterly unsustainable argument that collapses under even the mildest of conceptual pressure. And if you disagree don’t even bother telling me, because I don’t take lessons in morality from people actively complicit in the Uyghur genocide.

  12. Ed Sheeran and other artists of his status are in a cleft stick situation.
    The majority of the ticketing and booking agencies dealing with stadium-size venues in the USA are also the owners of said venues. They can and often will call the shots as to who may or may not tour over there. There’s big sums of money sloshing around but they are the ones who call the shots.
    Individual artists could not ever stand up against them or dictate terms unless a majority of them all do it together.
    As it stands Ed Sheeran is unlikely to have any more US tours if he doesn’t bend to their will.
    Yes, he’s a pretty big artist, but there are plenty of other artists who could fill stadiums for the owners and bookers.
    Pop fans are fickle. If he’s prevented from touring the USA they might just move on to someone else.

  13. I used to go to a lot of gigs, but I can’t ever remember seeing an act making any sort of political comment. Yes, maybe a song might contain a certain message, either explicit or implicit. But I don’t think I saw any frontperson making a direct speech, or even a throwaway comment, where they took sides on a political issue, flew a flag, or whatever.

    Is that a thing now? Do many audiences want or expect a bit of politics at a gig? As somebody on the radio said today re Sheeran, isn’t he allowed to just go out and play some songs people like?

    I couldn’t pick Macklemore out of a line-up and have never knowingly heard his music, but he’s made me feel sorry for Ed Sheeran, which is something I never expected to happen.

  15. For some reason I am reminded of the significant number of people I have known who generally avoided politics. In some cases they got a lot of grief for this. What strikes me in hindsight is that a great many of them spent a lot of time doing good deeds, be it looking after neighbours, volunteering to feed patients in hospital and so. Their fiercest critics usually did fuck all of any practical merit.

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