{"id":609915,"date":"2026-09-24T04:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T04:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609915\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T04:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T04:44:11","slug":"ed-sheeran-mural-in-dunedin-vandalised-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609915\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran mural in Dunedin vandalised again"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ed Sheeran mural in Dunedin has been vandalised<\/a> for the second time in a week \u2013 this time with dollar signs covering the musician\u2019s eyes and a Star of David on his forehead.<\/p>\n

Last Thursday morning, the work was vandalised on the back of a controversial string of events which followed after rapper Macklemore was removed<\/a> from Sheeran\u2019s tour for making pro-Palestinian comments while performing.<\/p>\n

Before performing at the Philadelphia show which followed the heated week, Sheeran apologised<\/a> and said his \u201cheart has been broken\u201d by the Israel-Hamas war and he had to make \u201cdifficult decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\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 and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet,\u201d Sheeran said at Lincoln Financial Field.<\/p>\n

While opening for Sheeran earlier this month at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, Macklemore shouted “Free Palestine!” and told Palestinians they were “not forgotten”.<\/p>\n

“Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,” Sheeran wrote in a lengthy Instagram post, adding that the rapper’s contract was ended by the promoter, Messina Touring Group.<\/p>\n

According to Sheeran, venues on the tour “communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting”.<\/p>\n

Sheeran\u2019s other opening acts resigned<\/a> after Macklemore was dropped.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concerts have always been a safe space for everyone, and that matters hugely to me,\u201d Sheeran said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis week, criticism was about something much more important and I\u2019ve had to take and make difficult decisions and I have made mistakes, and I\u2019m so, so sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bath St mural of the British singer was created in 2018 by artist Tyler Kennedy Stent before Sheeran played three shows at the Forsyth Barr Stadium.<\/p>\n

Last Thursday morning, the words \u201cFree Palestine\u201d were written in large black lettering across the bottom of the mural.<\/p>\n

\u201cNg\u0101 mihi nui to the person who wrote ‘Free Palestine’ on the mural,\u201d Stent told RNZ following the incident.<\/p>\n

He said the tag was a \u201cwelcome addition to the mural\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ed Sheeran mural in Dunedin has been vandalised for the second time in a week \u2013 this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2567,430,1080,156,14849,157,111,139,69,550],"class_list":["post-609915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-arts-and-culture","tag-celebrities","tag-dunedin-otago","tag-entertainment","tag-israel-gaza-conflict","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-social-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609915","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=609915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}