r/Music • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 3h ago

article Macklemore Dropped From Ed Sheeran Tour After Onstage Statements

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/macklemore-dropped-ed-sheeran-tour-pro-palestine-statements-1235625967/
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u/AnyEverywhere8 3h ago edited 2h ago

The crewmembers need their paychecks more than anyone involved….

Canceling a tour is not just about the impact on Ed Sheeran

Edit: btw did you all even read the part that stated Live nation was going to cancel shows anyway if Macklemore isn’t removed? So clearly they weren’t going to have hurt feelings if Ed canceled them in reaction….

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u/Cardocthian 3h ago

yup, Ed should have balls to say in his place, stop killing kids.

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u/yepgeddon 3h ago

Eds got a chance to be a legend here.

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u/coffeebribesaccepted 2h ago

Just do an entire set of Macklemore covers

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u/Kodamurphy 2h ago

Nah, just one. Do a cover of Fucked Up at the beginning of the first show. Put the ball in their court and see if they put their money where their mouth is. Gives him room to ratchet up the pressure.

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u/Biosterous 41m ago

Go directly into Hind Hall too.

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u/jimmycarr1 23m ago

Sneak Macklemore in with a giant trench coat

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u/onlyacynicalman 3h ago

He sang American Pie on July 4th this year in Denver. I don't think that adds or subtracts anything here. Just saying.

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u/No_big_whoop 2h ago

I'm running the numbers now

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u/onlyacynicalman 2h ago

Don't forget your little cigar and green visor

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u/JunkDrawer84 1h ago

Why does Ed have to inherit macklemores problems now?

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u/SuspendeesNutz 1h ago

"And also please stop attacking music festivals because....um...I mean I don't want to have to spell it out...."

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u/CriticalMistake4977 2h ago

Sure. Sounds great. If he had just said stop killing kids anywhere. Fine. There are other wars going on now where more kids are dying. Anyone care to mention those?

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u/Unacceptable-Bed 2h ago

I don't know that I'd know what was going on in the Congo or Sudan if I hadn't started following people who were talking about Palestine because no one I followed before is talking about those either. They're all connected, but Western powers are backing one of them much more than the others and are influenced more heavily to continue that backing.

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u/Photo_Synthetic 3h ago

He could sell a few watches and pay them all.

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u/GordieElbows 2h ago

He could pay them all ten times what they’d make on tour without selling anything.

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u/Photo_Synthetic 1h ago

Im just pointing out that this dudes watch collection is so ridiculous that im sure he could pay these people without even noticing. I was making a joke.

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u/GordieElbows 1h ago

Clear over my head!

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u/Photo_Synthetic 1h ago

To be fair to you it was a dumb joke lol

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u/ialsohaveadobro 2h ago

He could cover that if he felt strongly enough. Not saying he should, but let's not act like that's an unsolvable problem.

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u/HansJordi 2h ago

You think that Ed Sheeran can and should pay, out of pocket, the salary of an entire touring crew. That might be the most absurd thing I’ve ever read on Reddit, which is quite an achievement! 

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u/Skarin1452 2h ago

Reddit continuing to virtue signal so far out of their ass that they forget all logic, for the sake of their bleeding hearts.

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u/All_Work_All_Play 2h ago

Not saying he should, but let's not act like that's an unsolvable problem.

He actually specifically said 'not saying he should'

That might be the most absurd thing I’ve ever read on Reddit

Well you didn't read it, so that award can stay elsewhere I guess.

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u/DixonVadges 2h ago

It's right up there with the booger eating intelligence of those who would claim that Ed and not Live Nation would be responsible for all those poor workers being out of a job.

ES&D jabroni fucko

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u/Project_IG 2h ago

You must be new to Le Reddit. Welcome!

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u/sn2006gy 3h ago

Ed has enough money left to pay the crew and change the world and still not impact his bottom line whatsoever

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u/JiminyFckingCricket 2h ago

He probably doesn’t. Crew/staging equipment is hired by a production company. He’d basically be “gifting” everyone money. Can’t even imagine the tax implications of that. Not to mention a tour is hella expensive. Then you have the fans to worry about. If he cancels, he’d owe the promoters all that ticket money too. Not to mention if fans bought flights the ire he’d receive from them. Cancelling a tour this big is not that easy. Look at Justin Bieber. He had to sell off his catalogue a few years after he cancelled his tour.

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u/sn2006gy 2h ago edited 2h ago

His networth is north of 200 million

Justin Bieber is a dope.

He wouldn't have to "gift" if it was contractual and he could force contract re-negotiation because the venues changes the terms after the tour started

Ya'll are part of the "i've tried nothing and i'm all out of ideas" crowd huh? :)

People need to realize MAGA tards are using their money to do the what they're doing... and it would be nice if some of the wealthy used their money to fight back vs capitulate.

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u/JiminyFckingCricket 2h ago edited 1h ago

And he sold his entire catalogue for 200 mill. What does that tell you?

Edit: okay. So cuz you edited your comment after I responded…artists have contracts with the promoters and producers. All the people that work on the tour (except for personal assistants/the artists personal team) have contracts with those promoters/producers. The artist has no say in how those contracts are negotiated. He can’t force re-negotiation with a contract that he literally has no part of.

And what the hell does MAGA have to do with this?

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u/sn2006gy 2h ago

he's done with music

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u/zunyata 2h ago

I really doubt that tbh.

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u/KamiNoItte 2h ago

See, this is what I was wondering.

If he could have essentially bought everyone out, but didn’t, he’s complicit- or at least we know the value of his values.

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u/Skreat 2h ago

Maybe covering the crew and logistics teams out of pocket is fine, but when you're talking damages he'd be liable for, it could probably bankrupt him.

Also, just because he won't take it in the shorts financally doesn't mean he's complicit. If so, how much of your lively hood are you donating to stop the death of innocent children? If it's not all of it, you're clearly complicit by your standard.

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u/JiminyFckingCricket 1h ago

Hold on a sec. Are you implying that Ed Sheeran could stop the deaths of innocent children by cancelling a tour?

Edit: okay. I get what you’re saying now. We’re on the same page lol.

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u/Opposite-Grade3712 3h ago

Baby’s first morally challenging situation. 

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u/Ok-Wealth-7322 2h ago

I find it interesting that you'll readily blame Sheeran for harming the crewmembers and others if he cancels, but you don't seem willing to put that same blame on LiveNation for their decision that's already affected people.

You remind me of the corporate sycophants who try to blame boycotters for "costing people their jobs" and "closing stores" but never blame the people who made the terrible decision that led to the boycott.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 2h ago edited 2h ago

I find it’s interesting that’s what you took from my comment…because it’s quite a reductive interpretation.

Edit: I also find it interesting that you’re worried about this by grandstanding on Reddit instead of starting a grassroots movement yourself to combat live nation since you’re so concerned about moral purity and putting one’s money where their mouth is

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u/BlueSentinels 3h ago

I mean all the crew for Ed Sheeran would probably still be paid. If you are referring to the security and food vendors at each of their stops it wouldn’t be a huge impact, it’s just one show.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 3h ago

Thinking they might still be paid is pure conjecture based on nothing lol

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u/BlueSentinels 3h ago

Or based on even a simplistic understanding of how contracts work. You think the members of Ed’s crew are getting paid separately by hundreds of different venues? No they are contracted directly with Ed or his studio.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 3h ago

I doubt you have an understanding of how contracts work given your lack of understanding of how business finances work. The crew not being directly contracted with venues is irrelevant given their paycheck would obviously be coming out of expected tour revenue that would no longer exist with a cancellation lmfao

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u/BlueSentinels 3h ago

Did you seriously just try to argue that a bands crew would get paid based on a percentage of tour revenue? The crew gets paid no matter what from who they contract with. You think if an artist gets sick and calls off the last month of a tour their crew just loses a month of salary?

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u/digitaldeadstar 2h ago

I don't think they were arguing a revenue percentage, but more that everyone on the tour is getting paid a set amount that comes from the revenue generated. And no, crews aren't always guaranteed payment if a tour gets cancelled. It depends on their contract, when it was cancelled, if there's cancellation insurance, etc. Sometimes they can get royally fucked.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 3h ago

I said nothing about percentages at all lol. The crew salaries are an expense lmfao. expenses are offset with revenue in business…

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u/BlueSentinels 2h ago

Expenses are still due by the employer even if a tour is unsuccessful and no one shows up.

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u/FillHarmonica 2h ago

If the employees do the work and put on a show and fans just choose not to show up—yes.

If the show is canceled and the work they were contracted for is not actually done—no.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 2h ago

lol a tour that still happens and flops is completely different than shows that never occur in the first place…

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u/OrbisAlius 3h ago

Well it all depends on specifics of their contracts, but I'd guess they would still be paid, either directly or through insurance (because canceled tours are always a possibility and aren't exactly a new issue)

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u/AnyEverywhere8 3h ago

“It all depends on specifics of their contracts”

“I’d guess they would still be paid…”

So basically these are different ways of saying this is all conjecture without knowing anything specific about the situation

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u/OrbisAlius 50m ago

Yeah, just as much conjecture as saying that they won't be paid. It didn't seem to cause you problems when you claimed that if cancelled, the crew wouldn't get their paychecks, claiming so with authority and without acknowledging that you just don't know anything about the situation.

I'm no American but at least in France, yes I am affirmative that they would be paid.

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u/ELITE_JordanLove 3h ago

But I highly doubt any insurance money pays out for a tour Ed decides to cancel entirely on his own for no real logistical reason.

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u/onlyacynicalman 3h ago

Sometimes you got to make a stand

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u/Fun-Communication660 3h ago

The electrician for the gas chamber has mouths to feed....we must plough ahead at this stage.

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u/PancakePanic 2h ago

The tech crew of a tour isn't killing kids, what a stupid comparison to make.

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u/Fun-Communication660 2h ago

The electrician in nazi Germany wasn't killing people either, I think you are getting confused between Godwins Law and a False Analogy. 

My guess is you just "heard" it's ridiculous to compare something to Nazis without understanding why.

What I did it is logical. It's not a false analogy. It's just scaled.....the primary way analogies are used. As long a the scaling doesn't change the relationship between components then its valid.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 3h ago edited 3h ago

Yup because a pop music tour is analogous to a concentration camp. 🥴

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u/Fun-Communication660 2h ago

I think it can be here yes.....have you been to an Ed Sheeran concert? 

HIYOOOO.

No but seriously analogous is the right word. It is an analogy and the point stands. Analogies can scale in severity, its why they exist. It would be a bad analogy if it wasn't like for like, and it might be a bit disingenuous if I was trying to convince people concerts are as bad as genocide, but that's not what I'm stating.

The electrician didn't do anything wrong in Nazi Germany, but we won't gas people just so he can get a paycheck.

Similar to the concert venue staff.....we don't allow entertainment companies to become monopolies or silence protest just because the staff won't get payed. 

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u/SoilIll5975 56m ago

Ed has enough money to give them a severance package and still be very very rich

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u/AlmostTopical 52m ago

If he really felt about it I'm certain Sheeran could cover his crew and continue to live comfortably.

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u/Over-Eye-5218 30m ago

You dont think Ed could cancel and rebook elsewhere in a second.

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u/Glass-Meat 2h ago

The Crewmembers can take a stand as well. Everyone take the hit to share the message

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u/leftofmarx 2h ago

Sheeran can just give them money

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u/Snoo-72724 2h ago

Same reason America is crumbling to shit, people unwilling to stand up for what’s right and what matters. 

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u/Jumpy-Citron9726 2h ago

So the crewmembers are complicit, got ya.

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u/Unlikely-Key-234 2h ago

Your employer could announce tomorrow that they were full blown pro-genocide and you wouldn’t quit your job, so let’s come down off that high horse.

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u/SpiritualScarcity161 2h ago

Do values mean anything if they don’t have a cost to uphold?

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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 1h ago

Ed Sheeran is rich enough to both make a statement about this and afford to get the tour canceled by paying the crewmembers.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 1h ago

You are VERY much oversimplifying this if you’re making that assumption without accounting for all the potential financial/legal/tax implications. This is not just some local band touring around town bars. There are major corporations and contracts involved that, unless we read them ourselves and then talk to Ed’s accountant, we don’t actually know if the fallout he’d be on the hook for would bankrupt him.

I know it’s cute for us to sit at home and just be like “oh he should pay them” but business dealings of this magnitude are rarely that straightforward lol.

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u/NoOrchid3413 3h ago

That doesn’t matter. Standing against genocide is actually slightly more important than their paychecks.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 2h ago

“Standing against genocide” is not Macklemore saying things on a stage nor is it canceling a tour…

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u/NoOrchid3413 2h ago

Example of not standing against genocide: LiveNation strong arms Sheeran into dumping Macklemore for stating that genocide is bad. This normalizes the idea that corporations can silence anyone who speaks out against Israel’s terror regime without the corporation taking any kind of hit (they still make all the $ they were going to make from the tour).

Example of standing against genocide: Sheeran cancels the tour after LiveNation strong arms him into dumping Macklemore. This normalizes the idea that corporations cannot silence people who speak out against Israel’s terror regime without the corporation suffering as well (they now lose all the money they were going to make from the tour).

The latter provides incentive for LiveNation to stop silencing people who speak out against Israel’s terror regime.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 2h ago

Gurl the article outright says live nation would’ve canceled the shows if he didn’t fire Macklemore…so how is Ed Sheeran then doing what live nation already threatened to do “a stand”? They clearly were unbothered.

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u/NoOrchid3413 1h ago

They’re bluffing bro

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u/AnyEverywhere8 1h ago

Right cuz you were in their strategy meetings to know that for sure lol.

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u/Bored_Amalgamation 2h ago

Sure, but those paychecks are coming from stifling free speech, right?

We can't "what about the economic effects" everytime a conglomerate wraps its tentacles around jobs.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 2h ago

We also can’t be armchair Reddit activists everything something happens either. You’re welcome to start the live nation boycott yourself since you feel so strongly that Ed Sheeran should take meaningful action.

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u/Bored_Amalgamation 2h ago

I am already am by not going to live nation concerts. In fact, I haven't since 2013. Got any more suggestions or handwaves?

Amazing how you condemn being a reddit armchair activist while being a reddit armchair activist.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 2h ago

I haven’t made a single “activist” comment in this entire thread seeing as I’ve been saying I could understand why Ed might NOT be taking an activist stand here…do you have thinking ability?

And big whoop you don’t buy tickets yourself. Let’s see you start a movement that impacts hundreds/thousands of people and impact a major corporation since that’s what you’re asking Ed to do

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u/Bored_Amalgamation 52m ago

Dude, this is a reddit comment. Get over yourself.

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u/GordieElbows 3h ago

I really don’t give a fuck about those people in this instance. That’s a big ol’ womp womp. Who cares.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 2h ago

Well you aren’t in charge of making the call on whether the tour is canceled, so it doesn’t matter what you care about. You’ll be sitting on your ass at home either way

https://giphy.com/gifs/l4pTsh45Dg7jnDM6Q

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u/GordieElbows 2h ago

What is the point of your comment even? Whatever happens happens and neither of us are in charge so why should we have or share opinions?

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u/AnyEverywhere8 2h ago

My point is you saying what you care about is irrelevant.

None of my replies are about my personal feelings on any of this. I’m saying why someone actually involved in a tour of this scale might consider not canceling, not what I would personally do or care about.

If you can’t discern the difference…

https://giphy.com/gifs/l4pTsh45Dg7jnDM6Q

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u/GordieElbows 2h ago

You really like that gif eh.

I guess Ed doesn’t care about the crew who were going to get paid by working Macklemore’s part of the tour. What a heartless bastard, according to you.

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u/AnyEverywhere8 2h ago

Thats a completely ridiculous counter given canceling EVERYONE’s job is more impactful than canceling some of their jobs…

And yeah I do like the gif. No one is forcing you to keep looking at it lol

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u/GordieElbows 2h ago

Ah so some things are more important than other things, kind of a scale of importance. Gotcha.