In a statement about Macklemore being dropped from his US stadium tour for making pro-Palestinian comments, Ed Sheeran defended his own publicly apolitical stance: “If we only ever focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change. There are different approaches to being an advocate for change.”

Every other musician involved with the tour – support acts Finneas (Billie Eilish’s brother), Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish songwriter Aaron Rowe, plus Sheeran’s Irish backing band, Beoga – has made their approach to advocating for change clear, pulling out of the remaining dates to protest against the censorship of Macklemore and to express support for the Palestinian people.

In a statement released yesterday, Sheeran stressed that it wasn’t his decision to remove Macklemore, who called for a free Palestine on stage at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey last week. “I am not complicit,” Sheeran wrote. Macklemore (who in 2014 had to apologise after being accused of perpetuating antisemitic stereotypes with an onstage costume) wrote that his removal from the tour was organised by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium outside Boston, where Sheeran’s Loop tour is due to play in late September.

Kraft confirmed he barred Macklemore from opening for Sheeran at the Gillette Stadium, but did not respond to claims he organised the boycott by the other venues. (In a statement he said his decision was “not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf” but that such advocacy “should not obscure the responsibility of........

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