Ed Sheeran loses half a million Instagram followers after Macklemore debacle
by Juliet La Sala · The Washington TimesSinger/musician Ed Sheeran has lost nearly half a million Instagram followers amid backlash over removing rapper Macklemore from his U.S. tour, media outlets report.
Mr. Sheeran dropped Macklemore as an opening act for his Loop tour on Sept. 14 after the rapper made pro-Palestinian comments onstage. Other opening acts and Mr. Sheeran’s backing band quit the tour in protest amid widespread criticism from performers and fans.
The Independent reported that Mr. Sheeran lost about 150,000 Instagram followers on Sept. 15, when the British performer first addressed Macklemore’s removal. Mr. Sheeran has lost thousands of additional followers since then.
Macklemore has said Robert Kraft, CEO of the Kraft Group, which owns Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, personally told Mr. Sheeran he would not be allowed to perform at the venue.
Mr. Sheeran has said the decision to drop Macklemore was “the promoter’s decision” and that he would not be drawn into a public debate about the war in Gaza.
While onstage, Macklemore criticized Israel’s destruction of Gaza in its response to Palestinian militant group Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people.
During a Sept. 19 concert, Mr. Sheeran tearfully read a prepared statement calling the events of Oct. 7 “horrific” while also describing the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.”
Performers Sting and Charlotte Church have weighed in publicly, with Ms. Church saying onstage that Mr. Sheeran had chosen “consumerism and capitalism [over] doing the right thing.” Sting said Mr. Sheeran is in a “difficult dilemma.”
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“There’s a very, very obvious distinction between hate speech — [which] everyone abhors — and legitimate political criticism,” Sting said, according to Sky News. “The latter is something [that is] one of our rights as a democracy. In a functioning democracy, you have to be able to take political criticism in a public forum. That is part of the deal.”
Mr. Sheeran was also mocked in a “Saturday Night Live U.K.” sketch that portrayed him as trying to avoid taking sides in a war between humans and robots.
Mr. Sheeran is next scheduled to perform at Gillette Stadium on Friday.
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Juliet La Sala
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