Billy Bragg has doubled down on his criticism of Ed Sheeran following Macklemore being dropped from the ‘Loop’ tour due to his pro-Palestine comments.
Bragg had previously said that Sheeran risked “tarnishing” his career and becoming “a pariah” over the controversy, arguing that the singer should “swallow [his] pride” and cancel the tour rather than allow venue owners to dictate what artists could say from the stage.
Now, in an Instagram post shared ahead of Sheeran’s show at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field last night (September 19), Bragg said he was “not impressed” by the singer’s response to the mounting criticism.
“I’m not impressed by Ed Sheeran’s attempt to deflect the current storm of criticism he is facing by promising to donate $2m to ‘aid in the region’ of the Middle East,” he wrote.
“It’s not just the ambiguity around the phrase itself, which hopes to avoid offending anyone by cloaking the sentiment in vagueness. It’s the idea that you can buy back your integrity.”
The $2million figure emerged after Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft said Sheeran had called him and asked him to commit the same sum to “aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis”, matching a donation from Sheeran.
That move came after Macklemore announced that he would donate his entire $1million earnings from Sheeran’s tour to six organisations supporting Palestinians.
Bragg went on to argue that Sheeran had an opportunity to take a stronger stand during his Philadelphia concert.
“All eyes will be on him following the walk-out by his support acts. Has he drafted in some scab artists to fill the bill? Will he make a statement or keep his head down and just do the gig?”
He continued by arguing that Sheeran should have threatened to show the video for Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest track ‘Hind’s Hall’ and say “Free Palestine” if Kraft demanded that Macklemore be removed from the tour.
“If Kraft cancelled the show as a result, Sheeran would have been seen as someone willing to risk his career on principle,” Bragg wrote.
“Either way, he would have been lauded as a champion of free speech and not as a hapless wimp willing to abandon his friends and fellow artists at the bidding of a billionaire.”
He concluded: “Ed still has a chance to redeem himself. How he deals with this controversy while onstage in Philadelphia tonight could help reset his image or plunge him deeper into disdain.”
Since Bragg made the post, Sheeran has returned to the ‘Loop’ tour and addressed the controversy at length during the Philadelphia show.
At the start of the concert, the singer said he had been forced to make “difficult decisions” and acknowledged: “I am making mistakes, and I’m so, so sorry.”
“What happened in Israel at the Nova music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain,” he continued. “What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic, unjustifiable, and disproportionate.
“My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives. And the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”
📲| Ed’s full speech thanking for the support:
‘The last week of my life was been one of the worst weeks… tonight has been honestly the best show of my life’
‘In this situations you really find out who your friends are… people I’ve knew from years ago are backing away’ pic.twitter.com/7iZIxrcujC
— Ed Sheeran Access (@AccessEdSheeran) September 20, 2026
Sheeran added that he was “speaking to people across the spectrum” about how to make a contribution to those affected, and said he was “listening and learning because I do not know enough”.
He went ahead with the concert after all of his remaining support acts and backing band withdrew from the tour in solidarity with Macklemore. During the show, Sheeran revealed that replacement musicians had been given three days to learn the material, saying they had agreed to perform despite knowing that “the world might hate them too for coming on stage with me”.
The controversy began after Macklemore used his support slots at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to make an impassioned plea for a “Free Palestine” and performed ‘Hind’s Hall’ alongside footage from Gaza.
The rapper subsequently faced calls for his removal from figures including Pink and the Israeli American Council. Kraft later said Macklemore’s appearance at his Gillette Stadium would cross the venue’s line on what it considered hate speech, while Sheeran maintained that the ultimate decision to drop the rapper was taken by the tour promoter.
Bragg is among numerous musicians to have weighed in on the fallout. Massive Attack said that “‘neutrality’ in the face of the slaughter of more than 20,000 children can never be neutrality”, while Roger Waters criticised Sheeran and praised Macklemore for doing “the right thing”.
More recently, Dropkick Murphys’ Ken Casey said Sheeran’s handling of Macklemore “doesn’t sit right”, while Damon Albarn held up a Palestinian flag during Gorillaz’s opening US tour show and told the crowd: “Don’t ever be neutral”.
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