TMZ.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThe decision was made with the safety of fans, staff and everyone involved in the shows as the top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cancellation comes at an already turbulent time for Sheeran\u2019s tour after Macklemore was dropped from the line-up following pro-Palestinian comments he made on stage earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The decision sparked a major backlash, with Sheeran\u2019s remaining support acts and members of his touring band subsequently withdrawing from the tour in solidarity with the US rapper.<\/p>\n
Macklemore later claimed Mr Kraft and other stadium owners had pressured the tour to remove him.<\/p>\n
In a lengthy Instagram statement, the rapper alleged Sheeran had been given an ultimatum that venues would refuse to host the tour if Macklemore remained on the bill.<\/p>\n
Sheeran has maintained the decision was not his.<\/p>\n
The Shape of You singer said he had tried to find a solution but ultimately the matter was decided by the promoter and venues.<\/p>\n
\u201cMacklemore coming off tour was the promoter\u2019s decision, it was not mine,\u201d Sheeran said in a statement on Instagram, adding that the rapper\u2019s tour contract was with the promoter rather than him.<\/p>\n
The explanation failed to end the backlash and Sheeran later addressed the controversy during a concert in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
He became emotional during the performance and at one point sat on stage with his head in his hands before thanking the crowd for its support.<\/p>\n
Sheeran also apologised for allowing the controversy to overshadow the music and acknowledged he had been forced into a highly charged debate he had never intended to enter.<\/p>\n
He said he had been required to make difficult decisions and had made mistakes, while describing the dispute as involving both freedom of speech and the Israel-Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n
The controversy began after Macklemore used a performance earlier this month to declare \u201cfree Palestine\u201d and argue his criticism was directed at Israel rather than Jewish people.<\/p>\n
He said his message was one of peace and equal treatment for all people.<\/p>\n
Macklemore has since announced plans for his own European arena tour following his departure from Sheeran\u2019s shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran has cancelled two US stadium shows as his Loop tour continues to be engulfed in controversy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,2331,134],"class_list":["post-906244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-culture","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}