Key Takeaways
- Ed Sheeran canceled his Sept. 25 and 26 concerts at Gillette Stadium because of severe weather forecasts.
- Kraft Sports Group cited safety concerns and said fans can receive refunds at the point of purchase.
- The shows do not appear likely to be rescheduled and had already faced scrutiny after Macklemore was removed from the tour for publicly supporting Palestine.
Ed Sheeran’s shows at Gillette Stadium, which is owned by Robert Kraft’s company Kraft Sports Group, have been cancelled at the last minute amid the fallout from the singer-songwriter kicking Macklemore off the tour for vocally supporting Palestine.
As reported by TMZ, the shows at Gillette Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots, in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Friday (Sept. 25) and Saturday (Sept. 26) have been called off at the last minute. According to sources familiar with the situation, the shows have been canceled due to adverse weather conditions.
“Stadium and tour management, along with public safety officials, have been closely monitoring the weather forecast over the past week,” a representative for Kraft Sports Group said in a statement. “Due to the severe weather forecast throughout the weekend, the tour has made the difficult decision to cancel the Ed Sheeran concerts at Gillette Stadium. The decision was made with the safety of fans, staff and everyone involved in the shows as the top priority. Refunds are available now at the point of purchase. Ticketholders who purchased through Ticketmaster will be automatically refunded.”
It does not appear as though the shows will be rescheduled.
The news comes shortly after Macklemore announced his own Free Palestine tour, for which all the proceeds will be put toward “organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement.” Macklemore will perform shows in Dublin, Paris, and London next month, and has indicated that special guests will show up at the shows.
Macklemore was removed from the tour after he made a speech calling for Palestinian liberation. In the speech, he also called out “the power of billionaires” who have made efforts to censor people speaking out against the genocide in Gaza. Macklemore said that he was removed from the tour after Robert Kraft “rallied” fellow stadium owners to issue an ultimatum to have the rapper removed from the tour, to which Sheeran obliged.
After Macklemore was removed, he announced he would be donating $1 million to “organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people,” and other support acts, including Finneas, opted to step away from the tour. All of the opening acts have since pulled out of the tour, leaving Sheeran with no support for the remaining North American and Latin American tour dates.
