Ed Sheeran Says He Couldn't Save Macklemore's Spot on His Tour. People Who Know How These Deals Work Say Stars Like Him Usually Call the Shots.

Macklemore was pulled from Ed Sheeran's US stadium tour after leading "Free Palestine" chants on stage. Macklemore says New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft rallied other stadium owners into a collective threat — keep Macklemore on the bill, lose the venues — and the tour's promoter, Messina Touring Group, made the removal official. Kraft's own statement addresses only his own stadium's policy; whether he actually organized other owners hasn't been independently confirmed. Sheeran says it wasn't his call and that canceling would have cost his own crew their jobs. Two things complicate that defense: entertainment-industry experts say a headliner at his level normally has approval over exactly this kind of decision, and Sheeran has a real history of political engagement — Ukraine, Brexit, anti-racism — that undercuts his claim that he simply doesn't do politics. Kraft created the pressure. Whether Sheeran had the power to resist it and chose not to is the part nobody involved has actually settled.