Ed Sheeran Championed Ukraine but Macklemore Says He 'Doesn't Take Sides' on Palestine, Ms Rachel Says He 'Caved'

Ed Sheeran's US tour dropped Macklemore after the rapper shouted 'Free Palestine' onstage. Macklemore says the singer 'doesn't take sides'. Yet Sheeran headlined a 2022 Ukraine benefit and told Ukrainians 'I stand with you', fuelling a double-standard row.

How Macklemore Lost His Tour Slot

Messina Touring Group, the promoter of Sheeran's US Loop Tour, confirmed on Monday that Macklemore would not perform the remaining support dates. The company said venues had warned they would not host shows with the rapper on the bill, which could have cancelled concerts for hundreds of thousands of fans.

Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, opened two MetLife Stadium shows in New Jersey on 4 and 5 September. He performed at Hind's Hall and called for a free Palestine, expressing solidarity with people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. He was booked for eight of Sheeran's final 10 US dates.

The 'Neutral' Defence

In an Instagram statement, Macklemore called Sheeran a friend and said the singer was in a difficult position. He wrote that Sheeran's 'typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before' and that the British star 'couldn't get past his public facing, "I don't take sides.'"

Macklemore rejected that framing. 'There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed,' he wrote. He also said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft had barred him from Gillette Stadium and, according to Macklemore's account of conversations with Sheeran, rallied other stadium owners into an ultimatum over his place on the tour.

Kraft confirmed the Gillette ban, pointing to what he called Macklemore's 'broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery'. Macklemore has denied antisemitism, writing that 'antisemitism is real' while insisting his criticism targets Israel's conduct in Gaza.

A Different Standard for Ukraine

The dispute has drawn fresh attention to Sheeran's own record. In March 2022, he headlined the Concert for Ukraine in Birmingham and told Ukrainians in a video message, 'I love you, I stand with you.' In May he released a remix of his single 2step with the Ukrainian band Antytila, whose members were fighting on the front line, and donated streaming royalties to Ukrainian relief.

That history sits awkwardly beside the apolitical defence Macklemore described. Critics argue Sheeran picked a humanitarian cause when it carried little professional risk, then stepped back once a second one threatened his US venues and sponsors.

'Silence Is Not Neutral'

The sharpest rebuke came from Rachel Accurso, the children's educator known online as Ms Rachel. She wrote that Sheeran 'caved to people who refuse to accept what the world knows' and that 'silence during a genocide is not neutral' She argued that the deaths of more than 20,000 children in Gaza, a figure she and Macklemore have cited, deserved the same outrage any other tragedy would draw.

The band MUNA and Garbage also backed Macklemore, while Pink had earlier criticised his MetLife remarks. Sheeran's representatives had not commented publicly by Tuesday.

For fans, the row has become a test of consistency. It asks when a star is truly staying out of politics, and when they are simply choosing which humanitarian causes feel safe to champion.