Ed Sheeran Lost Every Support Act in a Day. The Fight Is Over Who Controls a Stadium Stage.

Ed Sheeran plays Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday with no opening act on the bill. Over roughly a day on September 15, every act still attached to the North American leg of his Loop Tour withdrew: Finneas, the Danish band Lukas Graham, the Irish singer Aaron Rowe, and Beoga, the Irish folk group that joins Sheeran mid-set on songs they co-wrote with him. All four left after the rapper Macklemore was removed from the tour over pro-Palestinian comments he made onstage in New Jersey.

The reporting on this has mostly been a headcount of who quit. The more useful question for anyone who works in music is the one the walkouts were arguing about: on a stadium tour, who actually decides who is allowed to speak from the stage? On the evidence of the past two weeks, it isn't the headliner.

What Macklemore said

Macklemore opened Sheeran's two shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on September 4 and 5. "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 near and dear to my heart: 'Free Palestine,'" he told the crowd, to a mixed response, before performing "Hind's Hall" as footage of the destruction in Gaza played on the stadium screens. He also addressed the objection directly: "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." He made similar remarks on the second night.

The response came fast. The Israeli-American Council started a petition to have him removed from the remaining dates: "The issue is not whether Macklemore has the right to hold political views. The question is where the line should be drawn when an opening act uses a global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda." In Philadelphia, Jason Holtzman of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia told WPVI that he and others had planned to skip Macklemore's set over what he described as a previous track record of antisemitism, and that regardless of Macklemore's intention, he had made many Jews feel extremely targeted and extremely unwelcome.

Why Macklemore was dropped

On Monday, September 14, Messina Touring Group, which promotes the US leg, said it had "been notified by venues on the upcoming U.S. tour dates that they will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans. After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates."

Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and of Gillette Stadium, barred Macklemore from his own venue, citing the rapper's recent comments "and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community." He also drew a line around what he was and wasn't saying: "This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf." How far his influence ran beyond Gillette is contested. Macklemore said on Instagram that Sheeran had told him Kraft rallied other stadium owners into a collective ultimatum — "If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues" — and Consequence reported Kraft as confirming he led such a campaign, but Al Jazeera noted that Kraft's own public statement never addressed the claim that he lobbied anyone else. He said he would be happy to sit down with Macklemore.

What Ed Sheeran said

Sheeran stayed quiet until Tuesday, September 15, then posted a six-slide statement. It opens: "I am appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The suffering and pain caused on both sides is a human tragedy." Its load-bearing passage is a contract diagram: "Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter's decision, it was not mine. Macklemore's contract for the tour was with the promoter, not me." He said venues had told him they would pull the shows if Macklemore stayed on, that he "spoke with the venues at length all week to try and build a bridge," that "one of those people was Robert Kraft," and that "the venue's and promoter's decision was final."

He also defended not taking a public side: "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." His stated reason is the room: his audience "includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds," and he would rather his platform be "a place of safety and sanctuary." He said he respected "Macklemore's strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes," but that "there is room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace."

Who walked, and what they said

Within hours, the bill emptied. Finneas, who was due to play Sheeran's South American dates later this year, wrote that "artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed," and added: "I stand with Palestine and its people."

Aaron Rowe and Lukas Graham were the two acts lined up to replace Macklemore on the remaining US shows, which gives their exits a particular sting. Rowe said he did not take the decision lightly and called Sheeran a friend who had changed his life, "but as Irish people, we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation. 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." Lukas Graham's lead singer, Lukas Forchhammer, went at the same target on the band's behalf: "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."

Beoga, who say they have been friends with Sheeran for more than ten years, framed it as a matter of history: "We are Irish people who understand colonialism. As founding members of the Irish Artists For Palestine movement, we are committed activists for justice and will continue to be." They said they remain his friends. Several of those statements use the word genocide; as the Associated Press puts it, a growing chorus of organisations and experts say Israel's wartime actions in Gaza amount to genocide — an accusation Israel vehemently rejects.

Then everyone started writing cheques

On Wednesday, September 16, Macklemore said he would donate the $1 million in net earnings from his run on the Loop Tour to organisations supporting Palestinians, and invited Kraft to match it. Kraft's reply, posted to the Gillette Stadium X account, said the matching had already been arranged from the other direction: "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." Kraft said he had "dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people" and believes "all lives are worth protecting," and that Sheeran now planned to approach other venue owners.

That account comes from Kraft. Sheeran has not publicly confirmed the $2 million himself, and representatives for both men did not respond to Variety's questions about where any of the money is going. Taken at face value it is $5 million pledged in a day — and a quieter answer to the criticism that Sheeran's silence amounted to doing nothing.

The part that's actually about the touring business

Strip out the politics and what's left is a lesson in where power sits on a stadium tour. The support act's contract is with the promoter, not the headliner. The promoter's shows depend on buildings it does not own. The buildings can refuse to host, and a refusal at that scale — ten stadium shows, hundreds of thousands of tickets — is not a negotiation the artist wins. Sheeran's statement is essentially an argument that he was the least powerful party in the room, and on the paperwork, he has a case.

The sharpest illustration is that nobody outside the room can say who made the call. CAIR Philadelphia has filed a freedom of information request to find out who decided Macklemore could not perform at Lincoln Financial Field. When a venue veto travels through a promoter, it leaves no public record and no name attached — which is exactly why the four acts who left had only one piece of leverage available to them, and used it.

The tour resumes Saturday in Philadelphia, where the Philly Palestine Coalition and Shut Down D&Z have called a protest outside Lincoln Financial Field for 4:30 p.m. Sheeran wanted his shows kept clear of politics; the politics are turning up anyway. Nine more stadium dates follow, including Gillette Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and no replacement support act has been announced for any of them.