{"id":606833,"date":"2026-09-21T05:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T05:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606833\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T05:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T05:22:10","slug":"ed-sheerans-cousin-slams-singer-in-latest-fallout-from-macklemore-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606833\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran\u2019s cousin slams singer in latest fallout from Macklemore scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe\u2019s honestly a selfish individual with malicious, cunning ways. \u2018He kills you with kindness\u2019 (His Words) I\u2019m his first blood cousin and he screwed me over, made fun of my mental health and mental health in general,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is shady and he\u2019s dropped Macklemore himself I believe 100% he\u2019s a coward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JethroJethro Sheeran described his cousin Ed as ‘shady’, ‘malicious’ and ‘not a good human’. Photo \/ Instagram<\/p>\n

The cousin added that in his opinion, Ed Sheeran is \u201ca bad human\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe only cared about himself and he puts out fake narrative that\u2019s calculated just to keep everyone happy so he can do big private gigs and keep brand deals etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cousin\u2019s post is the latest public slamming of Sheeran, who has received widespread criticism since Macklemore was dropped from his US Loop tour last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Numerous celebrities have spoken out against Sheeran. His opening acts and even his support band quit his tour in solidarity with the American rapper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of Ireland\u2019s biggest radio stations removed Sheeran\u2019s music from the airwaves<\/a> and, in Dunedin, an Ed Sheeran mural had \u201cFree Palestine\u201d added to it<\/a> in response to the controversy.<\/p>\n

\"EdEd Sheeran and Macklemore had a longstanding friendship. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ed Sheeran performed in Philadelphia over the weekend and addressed the situation<\/a> in tears as he read a statement about the saga.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not usually how I would open the show, but before I play some songs tonight, I hope it\u2019s okay if I say a few words,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m used to my music being criticised … This week the criticism was about something much more important … I am making mistakes and I am so, so sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheeran continued: \u201cI don\u2019t want to disappoint fans, and I\u2019ve never wanted to be an activist, musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important, compassionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.<\/p>\n

\" The words \u201cFREE PALESTINE\u201d were painted across the bottom of Dunedin\u2019s Ed Sheeran mural in Bath St, while red paint was splashed across the portrait and left dripping down his face and neck. Photo \/ Ben Tomsett<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The English singer-songwriter said he sympathised with both sides of the Israel-Hamas war, telling the audience: \u201cWhat happened in Israel, and at the Nova music festival on October 7, it was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWhat is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation, loss of civilians\u2019 lives. Children\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd … this systemic injustice we\u2019re seeing unfolding the West Bank cannot be overlooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheeran appeared to blame wealthy music venue owners, including American businessman Robert Kraft, for dropping Macklemore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply worried about the idea that venues should pre-approve content for performance,\u201d he said in a scripted speech, adding \u201cit should never happen in the free world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sheeran was due to take the stage at 5.30pm local time but the start was pushed back to 8pm after his support acts and his backing band dropped out.<\/p>\n

The Shape of You singer faces a growing online backlash over his response to Macklemore\u2019s removal, with some fans demanding refunds, while others are trying to resell their tickets. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe\u2019s honestly a selfish individual with malicious, cunning ways. \u2018He kills you with kindness\u2019 (His Words) I\u2019m his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4608,18399,124,58250,2946,13973,156,48338,71,78,700,296048,111,139,69,9644,85382,4625,19993],"class_list":["post-606833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-awkward","tag-christmas","tag-could","tag-cousin","tag-dinner","tag-ed","tag-entertainment","tag-fallout","tag-from","tag-in","tag-latest","tag-macklemore","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-scandal","tag-sheerans","tag-singer","tag-slams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}