Roger Waters has shared a message with Ed Sheeran regarding the decision to remove Macklemore from his tour for making pro-Palestine comments on stage.
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The controversy surrounding the ‘Loop’ tour started when the rapper made an impassioned speech on-stage while opening for Sheeran, calling for “all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality” and for a “free Palestine”.
He then faced calls for his removal from the tour by the Israeli-American Council, who claimed he had used his platform to “advance a one-sided political agenda”, and went on to respond to critics – saying striving for equality “should never be controversial”.
He was still removed from the tour, and went on to share a statement in which he claimed that Robert Kraft — the owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium — started a campaign against Sheeran to drop him or the shows couldn’t go ahead.
Kraft spoke out to defend his actions, and Sheeran addressed backlash, saying that he was “not complicit” or responsible for the decision, and had tried hard to “build bridges, to find a solution”.
Since then, more support acts on the tour have also pulled out in solidarity with Macklemore and the people of Palestine, including Finneas, and Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga along with the Danish band Lukas Graham.
Previous support acts, BIIRD and Myles Smith, have also shared statements.
Now, singer, songwriter and former Pink Floyd star Roger Waters has weighed in on the discussion, and showed his backing for Macklemore, while calling Sheeran a “little prick”.
The video, shared on his social media channels, began with text that read “Ed Who?” and then went into a video of him. “This is a little message for Ed Sheeran,” he said, before showing an image of United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese behind him, as well as an unnamed woman from Gaza pictured with tears in her eyes.
“I just have a little message for [Sheeran],” Waters added. “There are two kinds of people in this world. There’s people who do the right thing – the rapper Macklemore would be one of those people.
“And there’s people – many of them, sadly – little f… excuse me, I nearly used the F-word then… pricks like you who do the wrong thing. Goodbye.”
Roger Waters has been a longtime supporter of Palestine. In 2024, he urged followers on social media not to vote for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the US election due to their respective stances on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. More recently, last July, he voiced his support for Palestine Action after the organisation was proscribed as a terrorist group under the Terrorism Act 2000.
He has also hit back at other musicians for their various stances on Israel. He told Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood that “there is no argument to be made”, and went on to say: “It is not a conflict. It is a genocide, Thom and Jonny!”
Meanwhile, he also responded to Nick Cave’s criticism in 2024, who called Waters’ support of BDS “embarrassing” and “deeply damaging”. Waters told Cave that “it’s not complicated”, adding: “Pay attention!”
Earlier this year, Waters shared a “reimagined” version of Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ with Palestinian singer Mona Miari, hopes it will be seen as “prophetic”, and also responded to David Draiman after the Disturbed singer said on Billy Corgan’s podcast he wanted to “punch him” for his “massive betrayal [of] Jews everywhere”.
“It seems he has a problem with me standing up for human rights, particularly the human rights of my brothers and sisters in Gaza who are being slaughtered in a genocide by the armed forces of the Nazi racist, pariah state of Israel,” Waters said on X.
“You [Corgan], being the lovely fella you are, gave this little piece of shit a chance to clarify or even modify his position. He did. He is a psychotic racist Nazi pig,” he continued. “I’m told, Billy, he writes messages on bombs before the IDF drops them on civilians in Gaza. Enough said.”
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