All of Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour supporting acts have dropped out of the remaining dates after Macklemore was removed from the shows over comments he made about Gaza.
Irish singer Aaron Rowe, US musician Finneas, who is Billie Eilish’s brother, Danish singer Lukas Graham and Sheeran’s tour band Beoga all posted on social media that they had withdrawn from the tour.
During a show at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey last week, American artist Macklemore said he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten.
This led to a petition demanding he be removed from the remaining dates.
On Monday, he posted on Instagram confirming Sheeran and his team had “made the decision to remove” him from the Loop Tour.
In a response on the social media platform on Tuesday, Sheeran said his departure from the tour was the promoter’s decision and not his.
He said “upcoming tour dates had communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting”, and added Robert Kraft, owner of the Gillette Stadium where he was due to play, was among them.
He said: “I am not complicit. I have my personal views on this devastating conflict.
“Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn’t mean I don’t have them, and it doesn’t mean I don’t care.
“Nor does it mean I don’t support causes in my own personal way.”
The Shape Of You singer said he was “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine”, and added he respected Macklemore “as an artist”.
Rowe said on Instagram he did not take the decision to quit the tour “lightly”, adding Sheeran “has been a friend to me and has changed my life”.
Rowe said: “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.
“I need to be true to myself and my ancestors who resisted colonisation, and fought for a freedom that I enjoy today in Ireland.”
In their post, Beoga said: “We have made the decision to depart as Ed Sheeran’s band on the remaining US Loop tour, following the silencing of Macklemore by zionist lobbies.”
The band added: “As musicians, playing to those crowds every night is the stuff of dreams but to play in venues that silence anyone advocating for a Free Palestine is simply not an option for us.”
Finneas said: “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed.”
Macklemore commented on each of the posts with a love heart emoji and the Palestinian flag.
Graham said: “Money doesn’t give you the right to own the conversation. Nobody’s bank balance should decide who gets to speak or which suffering we’re allowed to acknowledge.
“I love Ed … I’m grateful for everything we’ve shared. That hasn’t changed. But I can’t put these words out into the world and carry on with this tour as things stand. We’re withdrawing from the remaining dates.
“I’m sorry we won’t be there. This is a difficult decision, but it’s one I need to stand by.”
Sheeran’s next performance is scheduled for September 19 at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, where Graham and Rowe were planned to open for him.
He has 17 dates still left on the tour across North and South America, with the final show scheduled for December 11 in Mexico City.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she had “enormous sympathy” for Sheeran in the wake of his supporting acts dropping out.
She told LBC: “I really feel for Ed Sheeran in all of this, actually, because you know he’s got support acts who he wants to profile and platform.
“He’s got promoters saying that they won’t when politics is being introduced to the stadium. I think he’s been left in a really difficult and 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.”
However, she said she understood the desire of some concert-goers to leave politics aside.
She said: “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.
“And so I do understand that for a lot of people, they just want to leave politics aside for a bit and be able to to enjoy the music.”
Elan Carr, chief executive of the Israeli-American council, which started the petition to have Macklemore removed from the tour, said the rapper’s actions were “outrageous”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today, he said: “He took to the stage in front of this captive audience of tens of thousands and proceeded to slander the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
“Any political view expressed on stage would be inappropriate in such a context, but what he did was not simply express a political view – he put forth a blood libel against the state of Israel, and by connection, the Jewish people.
“It has no place in a concert. A concert is supposed to be inclusive. This is something Mr Sheeran said, he wants inclusive concerts for all his concertgoers.
“To make Jewish concertgoers and pro-Israel feel unwelcome is a terrible thing to do and that’s what Macklemore did. It’s entirely appropriate that he was excused from further performances.”
On Macklemore’s use of the phrase “free Palestine”, Mr Carr said: “He has no right to hijack a stage at a concert.
“I don’t purport to know Macklemore’s intentions but Free Palestine absolutely is a call for the extermination of the State of Israel and the Jewish People. It’s very clear.”
Sheeran and Macklemore’s representatives were contacted for comment.
