Ed Sheeran says it wasn't his decision to drop Macklemore
Ed Sheeran clarified that he did not personally decide to remove rapper Macklemore from his tour following Macklemore's public comments on the Gaza conflict. Sheeran stated the decision was made by tour promoters and venue owners concerned about the political nature of the statements.
Why it matters
The incident underscores the tension between artists' freedom of expression and the commercial pressures faced by tour promoters and venue operators.
Ed Sheeran has said it was not his decision to remove US rapper Macklemore from his tour over comments about Gaza.
During a show at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey last week, Macklemore, 43, said that he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten, which led to a petition demanding he be removed from the remaining dates.
On Monday, Macklemore, real name Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, posted on Instagram that Sheeran and his team had then "made the decision to remove" him from the Loop Tour .
But in a response on the social media platform on Tuesday, Sheeran said Macklemore's departure from the tour was the promoter's decision and not his.
Sheeran said "upcoming tour dates had communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting".
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