{"id":628170,"date":"2026-09-18T04:04:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T04:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628170\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T04:04:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T04:04:24","slug":"irish-radio-station-drops-ed-sheeran-music-after-listener-feedback-on-macklemore-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628170\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish radio station drops Ed Sheeran music after listener feedback on Macklemore row"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An Irish radio station has dropped <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/lifestyle\/artsandculture\/arid-41911585.html\">Ed Sheeran\u2019s music<\/a> after \u201cthe reaction from our listeners\u201d to the decision to remove Macklemore from his tour over comments the rapper made about Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>All of the current support acts on Sheeran\u2019s Loop tour have dropped out of the remaining dates following the decision, after Macklemore said he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten during a show at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Classic Hits Radio said it had made the decision to remove the Galway Girl singer\u2019s music for the \u201cforeseeable future\u201d after feedback over the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Dave Kelly, group programme director at Bay Broadcasting, which runs the station, said: \u201cOur decision to remove Ed Sheeran\u2019s music from the Classic Hits Radio playlist has been carefully considered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIt is not intended as a personal judgment on Ed Sheeran, and we acknowledge his own explanation of the circumstances surrounding recent events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cAs an independent Irish-owned radio station, however, we believe it is important to listen to our audience and to stand alongside Irish artists who have made what is undoubtedly a significant professional decision based on their own convictions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cUltimately, our position is a simple one. We believe in peace, humanity and respect, and in the right of people and artists to express and act upon their sincerely held views.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIn light of the strength of feeling expressed by our listeners and the decisions taken by Irish artists involved in the tour, we believe removing Ed Sheeran\u2019s music from our playlist is the appropriate decision for Classic Hits Radio at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The station said the decision to drop the British singer\u2019s music would remain \u201cunder review\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Irish singer Aaron Rowe, Finneas, who is Billie Eilish\u2019s brother, and Danish singer Lukas Graham, as well as Sheeran\u2019s backing band Beoga, all shared messages of support for Macklemore as they pulled out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The rapper has now donated his one million-dollar tour net earnings to charities supporting Palestinian people, and challenged Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft, who reportedly called for his removal from the tour, to match his donation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">He said in a post on Instagram: \u201cWith everything that has happened over the last 48 hours, I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation, and still fighting for their freedom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI will be donating the entire one million (dollars) of my net earnings from Ed Sheeran\u2019s Loop Tour to six organisations working directly to support the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Addressing Kraft, he added that \u201cwhatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this, Palestinian lives are worth protecting, a Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The businessman has since responded saying Sheeran had asked him to match his two million-dollar donation before Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, announced his pledge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Kraft said in a statement on Instagram: \u201cI have dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people. I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cEarlier today, before Macklemore challenged me to match his donation, Ed called me and asked me to commit two million to match his donation to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cEd now plans to reach out to other venue owners and our goal is to continue to work together to build bridges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIn addition, I\u2019d like the people who are speaking in support of the Palestinian people to know that for decades, I have supported efforts that create opportunity for Palestinians and have brought young Palestinians and Israelis together to build businesses, create jobs and forge relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">On Tuesday, Sheeran said on social media that Macklemore\u2019s departure from the tour was the promoter\u2019s decision and not his, after a petition was launched to get the Thrift Shop rapper removed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">He said \u201cupcoming tour dates had communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting\u201d, and added that Kraft, whose Gillette Stadium will host gigs on Oasis\u2019s Live 27 tour, was among them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Sheeran added: \u201cI am not complicit. I have my personal views on this devastating conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Shape Of You singer said he was \u201cappalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine\u201d, and added he respected Macklemore \u201cas an artist\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In a previous statement shared by Kraft, the businessman said his decision to ban the US rapper following his comments on stage were down to a \u201cbroader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Sheeran\u2019s next performance is scheduled for September 19 at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, where Graham and Rowe had been due to open for him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">He has 17 dates still left on the tour across North and South America, with the final show scheduled for December 11 in Mexico City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Irish radio station has dropped Ed Sheeran\u2019s music after \u201cthe reaction from our listeners\u201d to the decision&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,6405],"class_list":["post-628170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music-movies-reviews-munster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}