‘WE KNOW WHO Ed Sheeran is now’, actor Liam Cunningham wrote on X, echoing the views of many Irish social media users, after Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran’s US tour. Most of them were unsympathetic to Sheeran’s stance on the matter.

The Englishman won’t have to hand back his Irish passport, but his past defence of his ‘cultural Irishness’ is starting to ring a little hollow.

A controversy exploded this week when Macklemore was dropped as the support act for Sheeran’s American tour. The first of their gigs together took place at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the hip-hop artist delivered a passionate pro-Palestinian message during his performance.

His words were met with immediate backlash, which he addressed the next night.

Speaking directly to any of those from the Jewish community in attendance, he said, ‘criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.’ It did little to placate his critics.

A group called StopAntiSemitism accused him of spreading anti-Israel propaganda in a post which was shared by the singer Pink.

She in turn said that she found the performance scared her ‘as a Jewish mom’.

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Separately, the Israeli American Council asked for Macklemore to be removed from the remaining tour dates.

By Monday morning, they got their wish when the rapper confirmed that he would no longer be appearing on the shows.

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Macklemore alleged that Sheeran’s team made the decision after receiving an ultimatum from a group of stadium owners: if the rapper remained on the bill, the shows would be cancelled.

He recognised that Sheeran was put in a difficult position and that ‘his typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it had never been before.’

Sheeran issued a statement on Instagram Tuesday addressing the situation. He sympathised with the suffering and claimed that the decision to drop Macklemore was made by the tour promoter.

‘There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics’, he wrote. ‘Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum.’

Here’s the thing: the singer has previously fundraised for Ukraine and used his social media platform to deliver messages like ‘I........

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