Ed Sheeran announces new tour opening acts after Macklemore controversy

Ed Sheeran has announced a new set of support acts for his ‘Loop’ tour after Macklemore was dropped as a support act following his speech calling for a “free Palestine”.

After making his comments on-stage, Robert Kraft – who owns the Gillette Stadium and is also owner of the New England Patriots – spoke out about the situation, saying he found Macklemore’s speech “deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community”.

Following more disapproval from the likes of Pink and the Israeli American Council, the rapper was removed from the tour.

Since then, countless big names including Greta Thunberg, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Dropkick Murphys, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Billy Bragg and Hayley Williams have shown their support for Macklemore, and Sheeran’s band and other tour support acts have pulled out in solidarity with the rapper.

Now, Isaac Slade, former lead singer of The Fray and American Idol contestant Brooks Rosser have stepped in to support Sheeran for a series of dates in the US.

The former took to Instagram to confirm he will open Sheeran’s performances in Indianapolis tomorrow (October 10), Charlotte on October 17, Arlington on October 24 and Tampa on November 7. He previously appeared at Sheeran’s show in Atlanta on October 3.

The latter meanwhile, will also support Sheeran at his Indianapolis show tomorrow.

“My first show since American Idol, and it’s at Lucas Oil Stadium opening for @teddysphotos I’m beyond excited and grateful. See you Saturday!” Rosser wrote on Instagram.

Sheeran still has a number of remaining tour dates in Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico with no support acts yet announced.

Around the time the controversy with Macklemore began, Sheeran spoke out about the situation, saying he was “not complicit” and “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine” – seeing the “suffering and pain caused on both sides” as a “tragedy”. The ‘Shape Of You’ singer later returned to the stage in Philadelphia and apologised for “making mistakes”.

Since then, Macklemore has donated his entire $1million earnings from the tour to six organisations supporting Palestinians, and also announced a ‘Free Palestine Tour’, which has already sold out.

Other big names to speak out on the situation include Tom Morello, who recently told NME that he admired Macklemore for refusing to retreat from his stance and adding that “courage is contagious”, and CMAT who shared that while she thinks some of the backlash towards Sheeran is “unfair”, she thinks the pop star could have handled the situation differently.

Elsewhere, Bob Geldof defended Sheeran but said he “really admire[d] Macklemore” and those who had walked away from the tour. Sheeran’s former support act Aaron Rowe also said that anger over the situation should instead be aimed at “the likes of Robert Kraft”, and Zach Bryan wore a “Free Palestine” T-shirt during a show at Gillette Stadium as a jab at Kraft.

Lorde also recently called out Kraft, posting a photo of her wearing a jacket with a “Free Palestine” slogan while also trying to tag Kraft in the post.

Meanwhile, Bono also recently shared that Sheeran didn’t want to “get into politics” when he collaborated with U2 on their 2026 single ‘Yours Eternally’.