Ed Sheeran caught in growing Macklemore storm as $2m pledge emerges and the internet piles on

Ed Sheeran has reportedly committed $2 million to humanitarian aid in the Middle East as the fallout from Macklemore’s removal from his US tour reaches new heights.

The pop superstar has been caught in an extraordinary public dispute after Macklemore was removed from the remaining dates of Sheeran’s Loop Tour following pro-Palestinian remarks during two shows at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.

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The dispute has now spread well beyond the tour, with a growing list of musicians and high-profile figures publicly backing Macklemore and criticising the decision to remove him.

Macklemore has pledged his entire $1 million net earnings from the tour to six organisations providing support to Palestinians, before challenging billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, to match the donation.

Kraft later revealed that Sheeran had pledged $2 million to aid the humanitarian crisis, saying the singer had asked him to match the donation before Macklemore publicly challenged him to do so.

“Ed now plans to reach out to other venue owners, and our goal is to continue to work together to build bridges,” Kraft said in a statement posted to the Gillette Stadium X account.

Kraft did not specify which organisations would receive the money or if he would be matching the donation.

Sheeran’s representatives have also not publicly detailed exactly where his reported $2 million commitment will go.

Macklemore, meanwhile, has named six organisations that will receive his $1 million: the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) and the UNRWA USA National Committee.

“Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting,” Macklemore said.

“A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth.”

The rapper said donating the money was “one of the least costly forms of solidarity available to me”.

“This is a man-made injustice, and I believe it requires immediate political change,” he said.