Aaron Rowe, who was one of the opening acts on Ed Sheeranโs tour before pulling out after Macklemoreโs dismissal over his support for Palestine, has now issued an impassioned defense of the singer.
โI think you are all focusing on the wrong person here. All I keep hearing is Ed Sheeran this, Ed Sheeran that. When you really should be focusing on the likes of Robert Kraft. You really should be focusing on the Zionist lobbies that are trying to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide, the genocide that is happening in Palestine right now by Israel,โ said Rowe in a video posted to his Instagram account Friday.
He continued: โLook, I know Edโs statement could have been a lot better, and I do think that Macklemore shouldnโt have been pulled off the tour. I fully believe it was panic station over there, and they rushed the decision because they didnโt know what to fucking do because they were getting it from all angles. Thatโs a mistakeโฆ I havenโt had a chance to fucking talk to Ed too much, but I fully believe he knows that was a mistake.โ
Rowe went on to point out that most of the artists in Sheeranโs opening lineup support Palestine. โLook whoโs on the fucking lineup, yeah? Beoga, the most pro-Palestine group out thereโฆ. fully pro-Palestine, fucking Macklemore. Need I say more? Me, everyone knows my fucking stance on Palestine. Like, if Ed Sheeran was a fucking Zionist, why would he have all these fucking people on the fucking tour? It was human fucking error.โ
The Irish singer-songwriterโs video comes as Sheeran continues to receive backlash for Macklemoreโs removal from the tour. In addition to Rowe, Finneas, another opener, also dropped out of the tour. When Rowe dropped out, he acknowledged that Sheeran had โchanged my life,โ a point he honed in on again in this video.
โI know Ed Sheeran has done so much for so many fucking people, including artists like me, who heโs literally changed their entire lives. All he has inside of him is kindness. That is who Ed Sheeran is. And yes, like every other human being, he makes fucking mistakes.โ
Rowe concluded: โYou should be using this opportunity to plaster Robert Kraftโs face everywhere. Someone who tried to shut down free speech. Someone who tried to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide. Thatโs what you should be using your energy on, not fucking Ed Sheeran, for fuckโs sake.โ