Why Ed Sheeran is ‘furious’ as details emerge about the 40-minute call that got Macklemore fired

Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour after a “Free Palestine” speech that offended billionaire Robert Kraft and his buddies. 

The rapper has seen a massive amount of support coming his way after the viral story. Still, on the other side, Ed Sheeran has been backed by controversial billionaires, Tommy Robinson, and that woman who was jailed for racist social media posts. 

Even former friends of Ed Sheeran’s spoke out against him, and it’s reportedly left him “furious” at the betrayals. 

According to sources who spoke to the MailOnline, Ed is “seriously upset” with those who spoke out against him. 

“This felt very unfair on Ed and he’s understandably pretty hurt and angry that this has now begun to overshadow the tour,” one source said. “Even though Ed is a very mild-mannered guy he will speak his mind when he has to. He’ll be absolutely furious at being put in this situation. He’s been thrown under a bus by several people he considers friends.”

Ed Sheeran’s phone call with Robert Kraft has been revealed 

Statement from Robert Kraft pic.twitter.com/as3f4RUKse

— Gillette Stadium (@GilletteStadium) September 16, 2026

When Macklemore first issued a statement on being booted off the tour, he claimed that it came after Ed Sheeran had a phone call with billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Apparently, he’d “rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him [Ed Sheeran] an ultimatum: If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”

Now, details of that 40-minute phone call have been revealed by The Washington Post. 

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Robert Kraft and Ed Sheeran already had a relationship after the latter performed at the former’s wedding. For that reason, it sparked a one-to-one phone call between the two would-be friends. 

During the phone call, Robert reportedly said he would not host the show if Macklemore was still on the ticket. Moreso, he’d made agreements with other stadium owners to do the same. 

“Kraft told Sheeran that while he felt for the Palestinian people and understood it was a complicated situation, he believed that Macklemore’s comments constituted hate speech—not freedom of speech,” one source said. 

Ed Sheeran has released a new statement addressing Macklemore's departure from his tour after stadium owners pressured Sheeran to remove the rapper after he spoke out in support of Palestine. pic.twitter.com/ZZXMz3LRZC

— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) September 15, 2026

Robert allegedly said the real bad guy was Hamas, and that Macklemore had been dubbed an antisemite after his resurfaced 2014 incident. 

But it also went further than that, The Washington Post reported, with other stadium officials getting in contact with Ed Sheeran’s promoter to echo Robert Kraft’s concerns. The pile-on eventually pressured Ed Sheeran into buckling. 

“Ed was in a f—ed up position,” Macklemore said. “But he couldn’t get past his public facing, ‘I don’t take sides.’”

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Featured image credit: SADAKA EDMOND/SIPA/Shutterstock and Scott Garfitt/Shutterstock for Global