This week Ed Sheeran and Macklemore have been the unlikely duo at the very centre of one of the biggest political conversations of the year. We take a look at the timeline that led us here and how Ed Sheeran’s hollow attempt to try to stay out of politics has backfired – and the conversation it has sparked around the responsibilities of celebrities in 2026.
OPINION
One night in my twenties I was in a bar where two older guys were having a heated discussion. Suddenly, they came over to me, saying they wanted to ask me an important question about music.
“What role does it play in your life?” one of them asked me.
I thought for a few seconds, and then said something along the lines of, “music accompanies me through some of the biggest moments in my life. It can transport me back in time to how I felt and what was going on when I listened to that music.”
Immediately furious, one of the guys threw his hands up in the air and stormed off.
The other guy let out some noise like a, “Gwaaaaah! No, what the hell?!”
By this time, the furious guy had circled back to me and said – in irate staccato – something along the lines of, “This is what is wrong with music today! Music isn’t supposed to be passive! It’s not supposed to be playing along in the background of the big moments in your life. It’s supposed to be causing and shaping those moments. It’s supposed to make you get up and do something, change something, fight for something. That’s what we grew up with. What the hell has happened to music?”
The other, slightly less angry man started passionately raving to me about the music that had changed his life and changed the world – about Bob Dylan’s Times They Are A-Changin‘ (written about the African-American Civil Rights movement during the 1960s), Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) and Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album (addressing the Vietnam war, drug abuse and poverty).
At the time I remember just feeling pissed that these two old guys (look, they were probably only 50 at the time – positively ancient to a 20-something) who’d had a few too many whiskeys and were now mansplaining music to me. (To be honest, I’m still not here for the way they had this conversation)
I hadn’t thought of that conversation in about 20 years, until yesterday. And suddenly, those two men popped into my head. Surely, somewhere right now they are stoked to see music actually doing something.
Now, believe me, it shocks me no end to be putting Macklemore into this story just after writing about Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and Marvin Gaye – but this week, he’s the biggest story out there. His music, his platform, his stance against the genocide in Gaza has drawn immediate attention back to the suffering of those in Palestine, where 20,000 children have been killed in the last three years.
The entire motive and point of making is to move people – and this month, Macklemore has certainly done that.
“But Why Does Music Have to Be Political?”
On Tuesday I was standing behind two young women waiting for a coffee when I heard them talking about Ed Sheeran’s response.
“Ughhh.. why does everything have to be so political these days?” said one of them. “I know, right?” sighed her friend. “Why does everyone have to have an opinion on everything? Can’t we just enjoy someone’s music for what it is?”
To be honest, it’s something I’ve gone back and forth on myself in the last few years – there’s the part of me that hates the notion that people might be looking to celebrities to get their information and facts. That seems wildly dangerous – we’ve already seen what can happen when people take health advice from unqualified “wellness influencers” rather than people who have PhD at the end of their name.
But in 2026 we’re increasingly seeing the power that just a handful of people now wield. Billionaires are ruling our world – their tendrils now curling into every aspect of our lives, often without us realising it. Macklemore pulled back the curtain a bit this week, exposing how Robert Kraft – one of the richest men on the planet and owner of Gillette Stadium – was allegedly the one who instructed that Macklemore could not play at his venue. It’s worth mentioning here that Kraft is a friend of President Donald Trump and is a major donor to Israel. Netanyahu said at a 2019 awards ceremony honouring Kraft that “Israel does not have a more loyal friend”.
See, I think it would be really fun to live a world where everything was just on face value and people could say things like, ‘oh, I don’t take sides’, or, ‘I don’t really do politics’.
But in 2026, we just don’t have that option. Whether you like it or not, politics, well… it is happening to you.
In order to put our best foot forward, we have to look back and learn from the past. And what the past teaches us, is that we have to be paying attention. We have to be engaged. We have to be listening out so we can give a voice to those who are silenced.
There are plenty of celebrities out there who have now amassed huge wealth – and huge followings. And in 2026 that comes with responsibilities.
David Farrier wrote a brilliant piece this week, and said, “For one thing, I personally believe that if you have a giant platform of millions, you have a certain moral obligation to speak up about things sometimes – or you do start to become complicit. Musicians like Ed Sheeran – and many of the world’s biggest actors and podcasters – clearly disagree. They are there to either be escapism, or to both-sides everything. I call bullshit on that. Not here in 2026.”
Hang On, I’m Not Up To Speed With All the Ed Sheeran Stuff
Okay, a quick timeline to bring you up to speed.
On September 4 Macklemore performed in New Jersey as the opening act for Ed Sheeran, where he said “a big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place, is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very dear to my heart: Free Palestine.” He performed his protest song, Hinds Hall. In his speech, which you can watch below in full, he also said: “To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, it in no way is criticism of you”
In the days following, the Israeli-American Council demanded his removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour. A petition began circulating.
On the 7th, Macklemore addressed the backlas, writing, ‘Wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial”
Singer Pink reposted negative remarks about it before posting a statement on the 11th saying that Macklemore used a family concert environment to make political statements and alienate Jewish attendees. “I don’t need anyone fired, I don’t need a refund. What I need to be able to say, as a Jewish mom, ‘that scared me, and it scared people I love.’ Without being told our fear is just propaganda, and without being told I’m somehow cool with genocide because I noticed?”
Then, on the 14th, Macklemore released an Instagram statement explaining that he had been dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour. He expressed empathy for Ed, his friend of more than a decade, who he called his “brother”. But, at the same time he called out his “I don’t take sides” approach – alleging that Ed had been pressured by owners of stadiums the tour is scheduled to stop through – including Gilette Stadium’s Robert Kraft – to drop him.
“There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed,” Macklemore wrote. “I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say. Free Palestine. But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on.”
That same day, Robert Kraft released his own statement, saying:
“Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line,” the billionaire wrote.
“This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf,” he continued. “Their pain and loss are real. But that advocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community.”
On the 15th, Ed Sheeran released one of the weakest statements I’ve ever read.
Ed tried to distance himself from what was happening in one of the most contradictory ways. He tried to convey neutrality – but his silence is very much compliance. It’s also worth pointing out that there are many political topics he’s weighed into before – he performed at the Concert for Ukraine in 2022, signed an open letter to Theresa May about Brexit, endorsed Jeremy Corbyn and supported the equality act in the US.
Ed said that he agreed to have Macklemore on the tour last year and that he was free to choose his own setlist. That this is where we’ve ended up as a result, is baffling. Macklemore didn’t suddenly show up this month talking and rapping about Gaza – he’s been doing that, using his platform for years. When Ed and the promotor agreed to Macklemore joining the tour, this is what they were agreeing to.
On Sept 15, within hours of Ed’s statement, the rest of his Loop Tour openers dropped out of the tour. The first to do so was Aaron Rowe, the smallest support act on the tour and therefore likely the one with the most to lose. He thanked Ed for the life-changing opportunity, then said, “But as Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation,” his statement continued. “I need to be true to myself and my ancestors who resisted colonisation, and fought for a freedom that I enjoy today in Ireland.”
Aaron Rowe’s statement was soon followed by Finneas (Billie Eillish’s brother), Lukas Graham and Ed’s guest band, Beoga.
This morning (September 16 in the US) Macklemore released another statement on Instagram, sharing that he will be donating “the entire $1 million of my net earnings from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organisations working directly to suport the Palestinian people. And I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation. Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting. A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth”.
Macklemore says he wants to bring the conversation back to the Palestinian people.
“This is what this has always been about. Not me. Not a tour. Not the headlines or the controversy. It is about Palestinians right to freedom, dignity and safety in their own homeland.”
Hours later, Robert Kraft released another statement, saying Ed reached out and asked him to donate $2m before Macklemore’s statement.
“I have dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people,” he wrote. “I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting. Earlier today, before Macklemore challenged me to match his donation, Ed called me and asked me to commit $2 million to match his donation to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis.
“Ed now plans to reach out to other venue owners and our goal is to continue to work together to build bridges.”
