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Ed Sheeran Isn’t Staying Out of Politics – He Is Letting a Pro-Israel Billionaire Choose His Politics for Him

Removing Macklemore from his tour for saying, ‘Free Palestine,’ is taking a side, whether Sheeran wants to admit it or not.

Kaivan Shroff's avatar
Kaivan Shroff
Sep 15, 2026
∙ Paid
Left: Ed Sheeran. Photo by Earl Gibson III/Deadline via Getty Images; Right: Macklemore. Photo by Kristy Sparow/Getty Images

Earlier this month, Macklemore stood in front of 90,000 people at MetLife Stadium as part of Ed Sheeran’s United States tour and delivered a message that he has shouted for years: “Free Palestine.” The rapper who rose to prominence for his 2010s hit “Thrift Shop” performed “Hind’s Hall” – a song named for 5-year-old Palestinian Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli fire. This Monday, he was removed from the remainder of the tour. Sheeran, whose tour it is, has not said a word.

Sheeran’s silence is the real story and, despite his apparent insistence, it is not the absence of a political position: it is the delivery mechanism for someone else’s…billionaire Robert Kraft’s.

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