I Who Never Mackled Less Shall Mackle No More

AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

THIS is the post you all have been dreaming of - where I actually admit right off the bat that I don't have the first clue who I'm talking about.

That's it. That's the disclaimer right there.

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Who is 'Ed Sheer...' Frick. How do you spell that?

SHEERAN

And by all accounts, he's English, seems appropriately approachable and scruffy, and sings mostly cheerful, thoughtful songs.

He is, as Joe Biden's mushroom brain articulated it through his mush mouth, a 'BFD' in the music world.

And he had a concert tour all scheduled and on the road.

Naturally, there are more players than just the headliner on these things (I remember seeing Kim Carnes open for James Taylor), whose presence on tour gives them both lots of exposure with the superstar and a little extra glow. 

When a name is as big as Sheeran's, people ask to come along for the ride, and that is what I am hearing this 'rapper' named Macklemore did, who had been 'someone' a decade or more ago, and no one since.

So the tour starts, and Macklemore has his moment on stage as an opener, which he turns not into a showcase for his talent, but into a 'Free Palestine' rally.

Hang on - I thought this was a musical event, and DIS GUY was just the opening act?

Apparently, Macklemore thought the stage was his to proselytize instead of rippity rap, while giving a full-on homage to the Columbia encampment radicals who tore up the university and physically terrorized Jewish students, faculty, and staff there for weeks.

A group that thinks October 7 was a 'historic win' for the Palestinians.

This wasn't a one-off, either. It was Macklemore's schtick for two consecutive performances.

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What seemed like questionable moves turned out to be so, as venues going forward declined to host Mr. Sheeran's tour if Mr. Macklemore was part of it. This included Patriots and Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft.

The Pallywood Protection Society swung into action immediately.

The apologists at Rolling Stone, who've never met an Islamic terrorist they couldn't gussy up for a cover glamour shot, described Mr. Macklemore's lecture as simply 'Free Palestine statements.'

That's all. What's the big deal?

It turns out Macklemore is into Palestinian ethos a bit more than just being swept away by the moment.

Many of the owners of these stadiums are Jewish.

Sheeran has never been a political personality, preferring to remain in neutral territory - kind of refreshing for an entertainer in this day and age - and made clear that this has been the promoter's call: remove the blatantly antisemitic Macklemore or lose the venue.

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Suddenly, the other scheduled acts, including Sheeran's own band, are sliding off into the night 'in solidarity' with the Jew-hating Macklemore.

Well, gosh - tells you all about them, doesn't it?

It's also telling who is loudly condemning Sheeran while supporting the 'Free Palestine' tool.

It is a veritable roster of Jew haters and communists.

ISN'T MY HAIR PRET-TEE?

This loony luminary.

Enough said here.

...Macklemore is being targeted for criticizing the genocidal mass murder of the Palestinian people and calling for the liberation of Palestine, stances applauded by prior audiences. 

Macklemore is taking a heroic stance and Mr. Sheeran should stand with him. The companies responsible for this attack on free speech for the benefit of a foreign government must be held accountable.

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Barf.

The usual publicity hounds.

And the mayor of Dearborn offered to host a concert, courtesy of the taxpayers there.

...And if you’re serious, go stand in Gaza. They could use your help.

Judging by the company he keeps and the defenders he attracts, I'm on the 'promoters' side.

I am also on the 'ticket holder' side, because, judging from Sheeran's studied apolitical nature and the decency of what few numbers I quickly sampled, he seems a nice sort of fellow, and I would assume most people heading to one of his concerts would expect the music there to be the same. I would be most displeased to pay what are probably princely prices expecting to hum a few tunes only to be lectured by some raving half-baked Jew-hater while carnage scrolls across the screen behind him as he spews his blood libels.

No.

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...and used them to turn Ed’s show into his own political event. “Free Palestine,” the protest song, Gaza footage on the screens. That’s not bravery. That’s taking someone else’s stage and making it about you.

And let’s be real about whose stage it was. Ed Sheeran is one of the biggest pop artists alive. Stadiums. Worldwide tours. Songs that actually last. Macklemore had a huge run over a decade ago and has been chasing relevance ever since. That’s why he was opening, not headlining. He didn’t build this tour. He borrowed it.

Then the venues said they wouldn’t host the dates if he stayed on. Kraft and the other owners aren’t required to hand him a microphone. The promoter isn’t required to risk canceling shows and wrecking it for hundreds of thousands of people who paid to Sheeran. He said it wasn’t even his decision. He also said he wasn’t going to blow up the tour, the crew, and the fans because his opener wanted a campaign stop.

That’s not “silence.” That’s not complicity. That’s the headliner refusing to let a support act tank the whole run.

Now the left is doing what it always does. Instant outrage. Instant boycotts. Instant “Ed Sheeran is complicit” posts from people who were never going to that show anyway. It’s performative. It’s the same woke script: hijack something normal, demand everyone clap, then scream when the adults in the room say no.

Macklemore can say whatever he wants on his own stage. He doesn’t get Ed Sheeran’s audience by default. The other openers walking off in solidarity can do that too. Fine. Don’t pretend Sheeran is the villain for keeping a concert a concert....

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I hope Mr. Sheeran, despite all the calls for him to cave and all the brittle laughing about not being able to go on now that he has no band, carries on.

It seems he has done solo shows for years, just him and his guitar.

I think that would be quite the nicest story ending I could imagine.

Whatever rock Macklemore crawled out from under to take advantage of a fellow man's decency will still be there for him to scuttle back to, nevermore to be heard from again.

Maybe he'll even take some of those other bottom crawlers with him.

 I know - don't tease.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | September 15, 2026
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