'Little pr*ck': Which celebrities are backing Macklemore and criticising Ed Sheeran?
Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters has sent a message to “little prick” Ed Sheeran amid the Macklemore-Palestine row and Sheeran refusing to "take sides". Waters is not the only one speaking out...
People aren't loving the shape of Ed Sheeran right now...
All of the remaining support acts on the British singer's US tour have quit, after the rapper Macklemore was dropped from the line-up for making pro-Palestinian remarks on stage.
The Israeli American Council had launched a petition to remove Macklemore from the tour following the rapper's "Free Palestine" comments at the MetLife Stadium on 4 September.
Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, Irish folk band Beoga, Danish band Lukas Graham, and Finneas, the brother of pop star Billie Eilish, all announced they were dropping out.
Rowe said that Sheeran had been a friend to him, “but as Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation”.
“I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide and who highlight the savage murder of children. I would lose all respect for myself to carry on as normal.”
Beoga stated on Instagram that they would no longer be a part of Sheeran’s band “following the silencing of Macklemore by zionist lobbies”. They added that while they have been friends with Sheeran for over 10 years and will continue to be, “to play in venues that silence anyone advocating for Free Palestine is simply not an option for us”.
Finneas, who was due to tour with Sheeran in South America later this year, wrote on Instagram: “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed. I have decided to withdraw from my upcoming tour dates with Ed Sheeran. I stand with Palestine and its people.”
Sheeran's damage control backfires
After Macklemore announced that he had been dropped from Sheeran's tour, he claimed that the decision came after an intervention from the billionaire Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium - one of the concert venues that Sheeran is next scheduled to play at. Kraft is also a prominent donor to Israel.
Ed Sheeran said he would not be drawn into a public debate over Gaza, and stressed he was not responsible for Macklemore being removed from the tour.
He did confirm that venue owners had threatened to pull the tour entirely if Macklemore wasn’t dropped from the bill, and that he will carry on with the tour.
"I would never let down the fans who had made plans, nor would I abandon the touring crew and the other support acts and musicians who rely on me for work and to make a living."
Despite his attempts at damage control, the final leg of Sheeran's tour remains in crisis, and many are calling the singer out for not standing up for Macklemore and his fellow artists. Some are calling Sheeran's stance "morally bankrupt" and labelling the singer as a "lowlife coward whose music sounds exactly like he is."
Check out some of the reactions below:
Many have also pointed out that Sheeran has previously campaigned and fundraised for Ukraine, thereby making his statement as an artist who doesn't want to "take sides" seem hypocritical.
"Ed Who?" Musicians back Macklemore
Sheeran has also faced backlash from other musicians and celebrities, who have expressed support for Macklemore.
Irish band Kneecap wrote “all love and solidarity to @macklemore” on Instagram, while Irish singer CMAT posted pictures of the Palestinian flag alongside the message "Free Palestine".
Other artists followed suit, including Zara Larsson, Paloma Faith and rock band Garbage, who called Macklemore’s removal "sheer madness".
"This is so wildly unjust. Can I remind everyone that nothing Macklemore actually said was violent or hateful or remotely radical," they wrote. "Those who exile, silence and censor others are never the good guys. No matter what you tell yourself. Just because you ignore the truth doesn’t make the truth go away or make it any less potent. It is all so utterly obscene."
Children's educator Rachel Accurso accused Sheeran of taking a political stance when supporting Ukraine while remaining silent on Palestinian suffering.
“Imagine being a Palestinian kid and seeing he did a concert for Ukraine but when over 20,000 Palestinian children are killed he’s silent. When his opening act says Palestinians should be free and not in a genocide he lets a billionaire kick him off,” Accurso wrote on Instagram.
Hacks actor Hannah Einbinder wrote on Instagram: “Ed Sheeran, I say this as a ginger. I hope you get a REALLY bad sun burn the kind on the back of your entire body where it hurts to lie down or walk or sit.”
Then came one of the harshest digs at Sheeran, courtesy of former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, who shared a video on his social media channels.
The clip began with text that read “Ed Who?” and then went into a video of him.
“This is a little message for Ed Sheeran,” he said, before showing an image of United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese behind him, as well as an unnamed woman from Gaza pictured with tears in her eyes.
“I just have a little message for [Sheeran],” Waters added. “There are two kinds of people in this world. There’s people who do the right thing – the rapper Macklemore would be one of those people. And there’s people – many of them, sadly – little f… excuse me, I nearly used the F-word then… pricks like you who do the wrong thing. Goodbye.”
Elsewhere, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued the controversy was bigger than either performer, framing it as an example of powerful interests allegedly being able to silence artists who speak on political issues.
"It's become clear that this is not just about one music artist or two music artists, but this is about how just a handful of stadium owners and the elite can prevent an entire massive issue, in this case, the genocide in Gaza, but it doesn't stop there," Ocasio-Cortez told TMZ.
One of the few voices – apart from the Israeli American Council - expressing sympathy for Sheeran is British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who said that she felt the singer had been left in an “impossible position”.
“I hope it doesn’t harm his tour. He’s one of our most successful artists and also one of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with… I have enormous sympathy for the position that he finds himself in,” Nandy told LBC on Wednesday. “The world is quite a difficult place at the moment, and I think a lot of people do also quite like to have a space where they can go, where they can leave all of that aside.”
Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The Gaza health ministry has reported more than 73,000 deaths in the last three years of Israeli bombardment. Organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have described Israel's actions as "genocide".
A report published in June by a UN independent commission found that "Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank."
A previous report last September found that Israel had committed genocide and claimed that these acts were incited by senior Israeli officials, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel has repeatedly labelled the accusations as “defamatory” and “distorted”.
