A “special guest” will reportedly join Ed Sheeran’s beleaguered U.S. tour in Atlanta tonight after all of his support acts withdrew over the Macklemore saga.
In an Instagram post, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta shared a graphic with information for attendees ahead of Saturday night’s show, stating that “special guest takes the stage at 7 p.m,” while Sheeran will perform an hour later at 8 p.m. The Independent has contacted Sheeran’s representatives for comment.
Last month, all of Sheeran’s support acts scheduled for his U.S. dates — including Irish singer Aaron Rowe and American producer Finneas — withdrew from the tour in solidarity with Macklemore, who was removed from the tour last month over his “Free Palestine” remarks onstage in New Jersey.
Sheeran had responded to calls from Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft, who had said the rapper could not perform at his venue after his public pro-Palestine comments.
At the time, Sheeran said he would not be drawn into public debate about the war in Gaza but insisted he was “not complicit.” The singer faced significant scrutiny for his apolitical image, and protesters gathered outside Sheeran’s first concert without Macklemore on September 19.
The controversy has sparked something of a movement in the music industry. On Friday night, country musician Zach Bryan wore a “Free Palestine” shirt during his concert at Kraft’s stadium in Massachusetts.
His guitarist, Noah Le Gros, wore a Palestine soccer jersey onstage alongside Bryan, and later shared a picture of himself in the shirt standing in front of a Kraft Sports and Entertainment sign at the Massachusetts stadium.
Last week, Macklemore responded to being dropped from Sheeran’s tour by announcing a “Free Palestine” tour with unannounced special guests, with proceeds from the shows in Paris, London and Dublin going to organizations supporting Palestinians.
Sheeran addressed the fallout onstage at a solo concert at Lincoln Financial Field on September 19, and said he was “so sorry” for disappointing his fans.
“I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division; about humanity, not politics,” he said.
He clarified his own stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict, saying, “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.”
