Musician and songwriter Jack Antonoff has criticised Ed Sheeran for dropping Macklemore from his tour over the rapper's pro-Palestinian comments, saying Sheeran should have "cancelled the whole f***ing tour" instead.
Last month, Sheeran faced extensive backlash after Macklemore announced he had been dropped as Sheeran's support act on the request of Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft. Sheeran argued that the decision to remove Macklemore was the promoter's, not his.
Antonoff weighs in
In an interview with The Guardian, Antonoff – who is Jewish and, like Macklemore, has said "free Palestine" on stage – said that Sheeran, 35, should not "let a f***ing billionaire tell you what to do".
The Bleachers musician, 42, explained that the controversy had made him feel "way more emboldened" to say "free Palestine" publicly, adding that anyone who finds the phrase controversial is "lost in some other sauce that is so crazy".
Turning to Sheeran, Antonoff said: "They're going to let some fucking promoter tell me what I can say? Don't book me. I'll play for free outside."
Missed opportunity
Antonoff argued that Sheeran "missed a massive, beautiful opportunity there: just cancel the whole f***ing tour, then play for free outside each venue, raise a bunch of money, rather than let a f***ing billionaire tell you what to do".
"The reason it's not an anomaly or niche issue is because we all live in a world where billionaires are constantly telling us what to do," he said. "So stand the f*** up."
The Standard has contacted Sheeran's representatives for comment.
Background to the controversy
Macklemore was one of several support acts on Sheeran's Loop US tour, but the only one removed after claiming that Kraft Group CEO Robert Kraft had personally called Sheeran to say the rapper would not be allowed to perform at his venue.
Sheeran responded with a lengthy public statement saying he would not be drawn into a public debate about the Gaza war and that the decision to remove Macklemore came down to not wanting to "let down fans" or "abandon the touring crew and the other support acts and musicians who rely on me for work".
Following Sheeran's statement, all of his support acts – Irish acts Beoga and Aaron Rowe, the Danish band Lukas Graham, and Billie Eilish's brother Finneas – individually announced they were withdrawing from the tour.
Returning to the stage in Philadelphia in the days after the scandal, Sheeran cried as he described how his friends and family had "abandoned" him after "one of the worst weeks of my life".
"I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division; about humanity, not politics," he said. "But this is a humanitarian issue. I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore. What happened in Israel, and at the music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate."
