Jack Antonoff says Ed Sheeran should have 'cancelled' tour rather than drop Macklemore

Last month, Sheeran found himself facing extensive backlash after Thrift Shop rapper Macklemore announced that he had been dropped as Sheeran's support act on the request of Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft.

While Sheeran argued that it was the promoter's decision, not his, to remove Macklemore, Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey interview Antonoff weighed in in a new interview.

Speaking to The Guardian, Antonoff – who is Jewish and like Macklemore has said "free Palestine" on stage – said that Sheeran, 35, should not "let a f***ing billionaire tell you what to do".

Antonoff hit out at Sheeran for not cancelling his tour

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The Bleachers musician, 42, explained that the controversy had made him feel "way more emboldened" to say "free Palestine" publicly and that anyone who found the phrase controversial is "lost in some other sauce that is so crazy".

Turning his attention to Sheeran, Antonoff said: "They’re going to let some fucking promoter tell me what I can say? Don’t book me. I’ll play for free outside."

Antonoff argued that Sheeran "missed a massive, beautiful opportunity there: just cancel the whole f***ing tour, then play for free outside each venue, raise a bunch of money, rather than let a f***ing billionaire tell you what to do".

"The reason it’s not an anomaly or niche issue is because we all live in a world where billionaires are constantly telling us what to do," he said. "So stand the f*** up.”

The backlash against Sheeran has continued

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The Standard has contacted Sheeran's representatives for comment.

Macklemore was one of a number of support acts on Sheeran's Loop US tour, but the only one removed after claiming that Kraft Group CEO Kraft had personally rung Sheeran to say that the rapper would not be allowed to perform at his venue.

Sheeran responded with his own lengthy public statement saying that he would not be drawn into a public debate about the Gaza war and that the decision to remove Macklemore came down to him not wanting to "let down fans" or "abandon the touring crew and the other support acts and musicians who rely on me for work".

Macklemore is touring on his own ‘Free Palestine’ tour instead

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However, following Sheeran's statement, all of his support acts – Irish acts Beoga and Aaron Rowe, the Danish band Lukas Graham, and Billie Eilish's brother Finneas – individually announced that they were withdrawing from the tour.

"I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division; about humanity, not politics," he said. "But this is a humanitarian issue. I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore.

"What happened in Israel, and at the music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate."