Jack Antonoff Says Ed Sheeran "Missed a Massive, Beautiful Opportunity"
Jack Antonoff, the frontman of the band Bleachers, has said Ed Sheeran should have cancelled his whole tour and played for free outside each venue instead of dropping Macklemore from the bill. The remarks came in an interview with The Guardian, published on Sunday, 25 October 2026. Antonoff said Sheeran "missed a massive, beautiful opportunity."
The row started in September. Messina Touring Group, the American promoter for Sheeran's Loop tour, removed Macklemore from the supporting lineup in mid-September. A promoter is the company that books and sells the shows. The decision followed onstage "Free Palestine" statements by Macklemore at two concerts in New Jersey.
Sheeran said the choice was not his. He blamed the promoter for the decision, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera. Sheeran's opening acts quit the tour in solidarity with Macklemore, and his own band also left.
Billboard has reported that Robert Kraft, the billionaire whose Kraft Group owns Gillette Stadium, urged other stadium owners to bar Sheeran from their venues unless Macklemore left the bill. Sheeran said he had tried to find other options in talks with Kraft and other venue owners before continuing without Macklemore.
Antonoff was blunt about the decision. "They're going to let some promoter tell me what I can say? Don't book me. I'll play for free outside," he said, as Billboard reported. He also said he had been saying "Free Palestine" at Bleachers shows long before the Sheeran and Macklemore row began.
On the phrase itself, Antonoff said he now feels far more willing to say it, because it no longer seems strange or uncomfortable to him. Asked whether it is controversial, he said: "If you think it is [controversial] you're lost in some other sauce that is so crazy."
Macklemore responded by donating the $1 million he earned on the Loop tour to Palestinian aid, according to Billboard. He then announced a "Free Palestine" tour. Reuters reported on 24 September that the tour would begin in Europe the following month, with U.S. dates to be announced later.
After Macklemore's donation, Sheeran and Kraft pledged money to humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Billboard reported that neither pledge named a specific organisation or amount.
A tour is more than the names on its poster. Each date carries a crew, a stage, travel and venue costs, so a change to the lineup reaches well beyond the artists. The dispute now sits alongside two separate tours, one winding down and one still being planned, and both were shaped by the same September decision.
