{"id":3198,"date":"2026-10-02T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/?p=3198"},"modified":"2026-10-23T20:48:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T20:48:56","slug":"sheeran-thought-out-loud-during-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/10\/02\/sheeran-thought-out-loud-during-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheeran ‘thought out loud’ during tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Olivia Emerick <\/a>\u00b7 Copy Chief<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(Ticketmaster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran faced widespread controversy after his team fired rapper Macklemore from his tour over disagreements regarding Macklemore\u2019s pro-Palestine statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While opening for the Loop tour Sept. 5 at New Jersey\u2019s MetLife Stadium, Macklemore performed his protest song \u201cHind\u2019s Hall.\u201d The song is named for Hind Rajab, a 5-year-old Palestinian girl Israeli forces killed after firing on her family\u2019s car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine,\u201d Macklemore said before performing the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, it in no way is criticism of you. This message is for peace, love, for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect and equality,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macklemore received criticism from the Israeli American Council, the campaign group StopAntisemitism and pop star Pink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots American football team and Gillette Stadium, said Sheeran\u2019s planned concerts would be cancelled if Macklemore was performing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I agree with Macklemore, too many lives have been lost, and there has been too much suffering, but only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only advances more divisiveness and hate,” Kraft said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The promoter of the tour, Messina Touring Group, decided to remove Macklemore from the lineup due to the controversy. This move upset other performers, ticketholders and listeners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American singer-songwriter Finneas, Irish folk band Boega, Danish pop band Lukas Graham and Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe quit the tour in support of Macklemore\u2019s pro-Palestine statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheeran\u2019s next concert on Sept. 19 in Philadelphia had no opening acts. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested outside Lincoln Financial Field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheeran addressed the controversy, apologizing for \u201cmaking mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to disappoint fans, and I\u2019ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet,\u201d Sheeran said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.\u201d Sheeran said. \u201cMy heart\u2019s been broken by the scale of devastation and the loss of civilians’ lives. Children’s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis concert is still a place where everyone is welcome, and everyone here can stand beside people that have opposing views. And everyone here can stand by people who they don\u2019t agree with on everything. But they can all agree on singing these songs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Olivia Emerick \u00b7 Copy Chief English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran faced widespread controversy after his team fired rapper Macklemore from his tour over disagreements regarding Macklemore\u2019s pro-Palestine statements. While opening for the Loop tour Sept. 5 at New Jersey\u2019s MetLife Stadium, Macklemore performed his protest song \u201cHind\u2019s Hall.\u201d The song is named for Hind Rajab, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[178,21,297,241,106],"class_list":["post-3198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-2026-edition","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-oct-2-2","tag-olivia-emerick"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/sheeran-option-1.webp",624,416,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/sheeran-option-1-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/sheeran-option-1-300x200.webp",300,200,true],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/sheeran-option-1.webp",624,416,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/sheeran-option-1.webp",624,416,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/sheeran-option-1.webp",624,416,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/sheeran-option-1.webp",624,416,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"elvinrj23","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/elvinrj23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By: Olivia Emerick \u00b7 Copy Chief English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran faced widespread controversy after his team fired rapper Macklemore from his tour over disagreements regarding Macklemore\u2019s pro-Palestine statements. While opening for the Loop tour Sept. 5 at New Jersey\u2019s MetLife Stadium, Macklemore performed his protest song \u201cHind\u2019s Hall.\u201d The song is named for Hind Rajab,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3198"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3348,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions\/3348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}