Pop
Ed Sheeran loses 200k followers as Macklemore’s Instagram explodes after Loop Tour fallout
Ed Sheeran’s follower count has plunged while Macklemore and every dropped support act have surged online after the Loop Tour collapsed in the wake of the rapper’s pro‑Palestinian speech.
Ed Sheeran’s social media numbers have taken a major hit in the 24 hours since Macklemore confirmed he’d been removed from the Loop Tour.
According to analytics firm Social Blade, Sheeran shed 149,636 Instagram followers immediately after the announcement, followed by another 50,000 soon after, dropping him to 47.3 million.
Macklemore, meanwhile, has seen the opposite effect. The rapper gained 750,098 followers in the same period, and has since added another 850,000, pushing him past 8.4 million.
The shockwaves didn’t stop there. Every one of Sheeran’s support acts - FINNEAS, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe and Beoga - quit the tour in solidarity with Macklemore, each issuing statements backing his stance.
Rowe wrote: “I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide.”
Their follower counts have also surged. FINNEAS picked up 96,163 new followers in the 24 hours after his statement. Beoga, who had been serving as Sheeran’s touring band, gained 86,548, while Rowe - the first to walk - saw his following jump 73 per cent, now sitting at more than 132,000.
The fallout began on September 4 at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, where Macklemore opened the tour and told the crowd: “One of the reasons why I wanted to come on this tour was because I wanted to stand up here on stages in stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine. I said, Free Palestine!”
After being dropped, Macklemore took to Instagram on Wednesday (16.09.26) to announce he would donate all $1 million of his tour earnings to six organisations supporting Palestinians.
He said: “I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation, and still fighting for their freedom.”
He then publicly challenged New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft to match the donation.
He said: “Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting.”
Kraft later claimed Sheeran had already asked him privately to commit $2 million to humanitarian aid, saying: “I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting… Ed now plans to reach out to other venue owners and our goal is to continue to work together to build bridges.”
