By Roxanne "Flashbulb" Starr
Ed Sheeran's sprawling tour of North and South America is suddenly short on opening acts.
According to NPR News, four of Sheeran's supporting performers have quit the tour in solidarity with Macklemore, who was dropped from the lineup after making pro-Palestinian comments. The walkouts have thrown the trek into what NPR described as chaos, though the full list of dates affected and the tour's next moves were not detailed in available reporting.
Neither Sheeran's camp nor Macklemore's representatives have issued a public statement beyond what NPR reported, and the exact circumstances of Macklemore's removal — who made the call, and what specifically he said — remain unconfirmed pending further reporting. [Editor's note: additional confirmation needed on the identities of the four acts and the precise timeline before follow-up coverage.]
What's clear is the stakes: a tour of this scale depends on a functioning undercard, and a public revolt by openers is a rare, pointed statement in an industry that usually keeps such disputes behind closed doors. If four acts are willing to forfeit a high-profile Sheeran slot to stand with Macklemore, it signals the rapper's comments — and his removal — struck a nerve well beyond his own fanbase.
We'll be watching for confirmation from tour promoters and any statement from Sheeran himself. Until then, treat the scope of the fallout as developing.
If I can't source it, you won't read it here.
— Compiled from reporting by NPR News.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."