Jack Antonoff calls out Ed Sheeran over tour controversy: 'Uncomfortable'

Ed Sheeran’s tour drama isn’t fading quietly. 

Jack Antonoff, the Grammy-winning producer and longtime Taylor Swift collaborator, has now weighed in — and he believes Sheeran missed a major chance to take a stand.

In an interview with The Guardian published Sunday, the Bleachers frontman defended Macklemore’s right to speak out after the rapper was dropped from Sheeran’s Loop Tour following his public support for Palestine. 

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The decision reportedly came after billionaire Robert Kraft encouraged stadium owners to block Macklemore from performing at their venues.

“It’s not in any way a strange, uncomfortable or controversial thing to say, it’s a deeply human thing to say,” Antonoff said of Macklemore’s call to “free Palestine.”

He also made his frustration with the situation clear: “They’re going to let some f***ing promoter tell me what I can say? Don’t book me. I’ll play for free outside.”

Antonoff’s blunt advice for Sheeran

Antonoff argued that Sheeran could have responded differently rather than distancing himself from the controversy.

He said the singer “missed a massive, beautiful opportunity there: just cancel the whole fing tour, then play for free outside each venue, raise a bunch of money, rather than let a fing 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. So stand the f*** up.”

Sheeran had insisted he was “not complicit” in Macklemore’s removal. All four supporting acts reportedly withdrew from the tour in solidarity, while Macklemore later announced a separate Free Palestine tour.

Returning to the stage amid the backlash, Sheeran described the fallout as “one of the worst weeks of my life,” saying friends and family had “abandoned” him.

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He also condemned the October 7 attacks and described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.”