Jack Antonoff said Ed Sheeran should have canceled the whole Loop Tour rather than let a billionaire decide the fate of Macklemore’s place on the bill. In an interview published on Sunday, Oct. 25, Antonoff said Sheeran missed a massive opportunity and told him to “Stand the f–k up.”
Antonoff’s criticism lands on a dispute that already moved through the live-music chain: a promoter, venue owners, and a headline act all had a hand in the outcome. Macklemore was dropped after backlash over his “Free Palestine” demonstrations at two shows in New Jersey, and Sheeran kept the tour moving without him.
Messina Touring Group and Macklemore
Messina Touring Group dismissed Macklemore from the Loop Tour supporting lineup in mid-September. The removal followed the uproar over his onstage “Free Palestine” messages, turning a booking decision into a public test of who controls the message when politics reaches the stage.
Sheeran said he had been looking for alternatives with Robert Kraft and other venue owners before the promoter moved to drop Macklemore. He also said he wanted his fame and platform to be a place of safety and sanctuary, and to keep conversations open rather than closed.
Antonoff, Robert Kraft and Gaza
Antonoff argued that Sheeran should have gone further and played for free outside each venue to raise money instead of accepting the promoter’s call. “They’re going to let some f–king promoter tell me what I can say?” he said, adding, “Don’t book me. I’ll play for free outside.”
He also said, “Live Nation keep missing the point,” and, “I don’t want to f–king talk to you people.” In the same discussion, he said he had long voiced support for Palestinians amid the violence in Gaza, and that he had “felt way more emboldened to say it now, because it’s not in any way a strange, uncomfortable or controversial thing to say.”
The money trail only sharpened the dispute. Macklemore later donated the $1 million he made on the short-lived Loop excursion to Palestinian aid, and after that Sheeran and Robert Kraft pledged money to unspecified humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Antonoff’s position is blunt: once a tour starts taking cues from outside power, the artist either owns the decision or loses control of it.
