Hello hello, and thank you for having me in your inbox once again. We've got some exciting things cooking behind the scenes, but to keep you fed while you're waiting, I've taken a trawl through the music news. Here's the digest from the last couple of weeks...
Macklemore and music's big Palestine tussle
I never expected to see Macklemore, Pink, Ed Sheeran, Paloma Faith and Boy George all piling into one specific conversation, but the news cycle is stranger than fiction at the best of times. It's snowballed into one of this year's most important stories in terms of solidarity and activism, but it's also a story that just couldn't have been made up.
Here's what unfolded...
Fri 4th September: It all started when Macklemore was opening for Ed Sheeran at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey. To introduce his pro-Palestine song 'Hind's Hall' - referencing a building renamed by student activists at Columbia University in honour of the six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was killed in Gaza - Macklemore made a speech calling to "free Palestine, Cuba, Congo, Sudan and Iran and all the people of America who live in fear because of this terrorist organisation ICE". This prompted the Israeli-American Council to declare he should be removed from the tour.
Sat 5th September: It's worth mentioning that the following night, the rapper did address his “Jewish brothers and sisters”, saying that “criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you." He added: "My message is for peace: love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect and equality. So I say Free Palestine, I say Free Lebanon, I say Free Cuba, I say Free Congo, Free Sudan, I say Free all people in America living in fear of this terrorist organization, ICE. None of us will be free until we are all free."
Sun 6th September: P!nk tacitly criticised Macklemore, resharing a post from the organisation StopAntisemitism that read: "Awful. Jewish fans bought tickets to see Ed Sheeran sing last night in NJ, not to be ambushed by Macklemore’s anti-Israel propaganda.”
Monday 7th September: Boy George, who recently released an AI-assisted pro-Israel song called 'We Will Dance Again', added on X/Twitter: "It’s important to note that slogans such as ‘Free Palestine’ offer the appearance of moral courage without requiring much political knowledge.”
The frontman of Culture Club turned Culture Warrior also lambasted Paloma Faith for sharing the video with the caption "My hero", lambasting "her stupid virtuous squealing of delight about Mackle-bore when she is about as political as a soggy tuna sandwich." (Have some evidence to the contrary below.)
Macklemore, meanwhile, remained defiant. Sharing a clip of his speech online, he wrote: “Wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial.”
Monday 14th September: Nonetheless, Macklemore was removed from the tour at the beginning of the week. He then shared a lengthy statement in which he claimed that after Robert Kraft — the owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium — forced Sheeran's hand, saying Macklemore had to be dropped or the shows couldn’t go ahead. The shock sent the story rocketing to the top of the news cycle, and Macklemore's statement has now racked up over 8 million likes on Instagram.
Tuesday 15th September: Kraft, who once won an award from Benjamin Netanyahu, responded to this by saying that he "agreed with Macklemore" and welcomed the opportunity to "discuss the facts", but began his statement by proclaiming that “Gillette Stadium has a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests and ensuring that events held at our venue do not provide a platform for hate speech" and Macklemore's actions would "cross that line".
“This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf. Their pain and loss are real. But that advocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure the responsibility of Hamas, a United States and globally (including Canada, European Union, United Kingdom, and Japan) designated terrorist organisation whose horrific actions have caused immeasurable suffering for Palestinians and Israelis alike," he said later. Read his statement in full here.
Meanwhile, the Gillette Stadium seems not to have a policy about not letting domestic abusers play, given Chris Brown played on his co-headline tour with Usher not long ago. Sheeran also sang at Kraft's wedding in 2022, and in a subsequent interview called him "super sweet".
Elsewhere, Macklemore was removed from a show at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, which hosted Kanye West - with his litany of antisemitic incidents in the past - mere months ago.
Then, Ed Sheeran gave his own statement on the situation, and the Internet was not amused. "I am appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine," he wrote. "The suffering and pain caused on both sides is a human tragedy. There are too many wars across the world causing immeasurable pain, none of which should be tolerated."
He continued: "There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics - my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds."
It was a choice moment to claim neutrality. When times are so fraught, stepping back and looking away feels irresponsible, if not ignorant and even careless. It's also inaccurate to claim Sheeran has been apolitical since day dot, when he'd previously bigged up Jeremy Corbyn and has spoken out against:
- The damage of Brexit for touring musicians
- The full scale invasion of Ukraine
- The lack of justice for those affected by the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire
- The rise of the far right in the UK with Love Music Hate Racism (as recently as 2019)
- The threat to equality in the US. In 2021, Sheeran joined Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Lorde, and more than 300 other artists in signing an open letter calling on the US Senate to pass the Equality Act.
- The defunding of music education, writing a letter to Keir Starmer in March 2025.
As a result of Macklemore's removal by the venue owners/promoters, the remaining support acts on the tour - Finneas, Aaron Rowe and Lukas Graham - pulled out one by one. Then, backing band Beoga, who join Sheeran for songs like 'Galway Girl' and 'Nancy Mulligan', also dropped out.
Wednesday 16th September: Macklemore kept his head high and donated his fee for the show, $1million (£750,000) to Palestinian organisations.
Sheeran then asked Kraft to match the donation, and the billionaire doubled it, giving $2million (£1.5million). However, it's currently unclear where those donations are going.
For context, given Kraft is worth between $13-15 billion, it's the equivalent of someone with $10k of savings donating about $1.33.
Looking at the data from recent reports, let's hope this aid gets to the people who need it and isn't destroyed. Looking at United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports, their latest information published on September 8th 2026 includes lines like:
Also that day, a humanitarian warehouse in Deir al Balah was destroyed by a nearby strike, which damaged more than US$770,000 worth of UNICEF nutrition supplies intended to support more than 40,500 children, as well as 4,900 pregnant and breastfeeding women.
The New Arab also reported on September 9th that:
A humanitarian protocol agreed under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan on 10 October 2025 stipulated that at least 600 aid trucks should enter Gaza every day.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Tuesday that Israel was allowing in only about 35% of required food supplies, accusing it of practising “silent starvation”.
It said 69,387 aid and food trucks had entered Gaza over the 330 days since the ceasefire agreement was signed, compared with 198,000 that should have entered under the agreement.
Thursday 17th September: Educator and presenter Ms Rachel agreed to match Macklemore's $1m donation to Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, then encouraged more celebs and wealthy people to follow her lead.
YouGov released a poll that showed people on the right of politics - who wang on about free speech - think artists should shut up?!
Saturday 19th September: The tour is resuming in Philadelphia tonight. Although Billy Bragg encouraged Sheeran to cancel the shows, they're still going ahead, mainly because cancelling would leave him and his promoters liable for huge costs. Meanwhile, fans who have tried to resell their tickets have found themselves struggling to find buyers.
Will it be a career ender, likely no, but did it have to end this way? Also no. It's evidence that the mood has changed, that responsibility and social awareness matters, and crucially, that there's no use washing the politics out of music anymore. Music can be an escape, of course, but it's also a vital, accessible means of finding solace and engaging with the wider world. And, at the same time, stream 'Thrift Shop'.
Check out EarthSonic's report into the environmental impact of streaming
It's easy to assume streaming your music instead of buying physical editions is the greener way to listen. A new report by EarthSonic aims to dispel these myths, highlighting the 'invisible' costs to the environment that don't seem to have been fully grasped in the public consciousness. Check it out, and discover just how much CO2 is generated through one hour of streaming:
We investigate the far-right's favourite rapper - and it got Tommy Robinson in a tizzy
This week's podcast is the second part of our investigation into the AI-generated far-right rapper Danny Bones, who is soundtracking the black shirt protests in Dover. You know it's made an impact when Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson's found a clip and had a whinge...
DiS Support
And in other news...
- Reading Festival has not had the best run of publicity after this year's end-of-summer blowout. For one, they've attracted derision for scrapping the BBC Introducing stage for a new stage that platformed a remarkable amount of nepo babies - Violet Grohl, Villanelle's Gene Gallagher, Cruz Beckham and the Breakers and Moses Martin's (son of Chris) new band People I've Met - ahead of talent that needed the exposure more. There's also been footage of the appalling state of the campsites doing the rounds, with tents strewn everywhere. (By contrast, look here at how clean the punters at my beloved 2000trees left the fields in July.)
- Jason Isbell is among the musicians who have filed a class action lawsuit in Massachusetts against Suno, alleging that the company uses musicians’ identities without their permission to generate music in their styles through AI. Although Suno claims otherwise, the lawsuit alleges that the software does actually allow prompting by musicians’ name, but also has built ways around its own filters which are meant to stop users from recreating music based on name alone.
- The 100 Club's celebrating 50 years of its legendary Punk Special gigs with two very special shows later this month, from oft-mentioned DiS favourites Sprints and Maruja headlining. Best of all, ticket prices are frozen at the glorious 1976 price of £1.50.
- If you can party in the Tate Modern (as part of their Tate Lates series), why not St Paul's Cathedral? That could soon be a reality thanks to a deal signed with nightclub Fabric to bring music events to the historic building. The first event will take place on 29th October.
- The legendary venue The White Hotel in Salford is reportedly reopening under new ownership after it closes in January 2027. It's taking the name BASTION and will be operated by the same team that runs the music studio and events space The Bag Factory.
- The new music campaign Nothing But Love is preparing for its launch party at Camden's Jazz Cafe next month with Skunk Anansie icon Skin curating and hosting a night of live music and DJ sets. Featuring performances from Rachel Chinouriri, Constance Power, Ruti and surprise guests, It's all going down on Saturday 3rd October and first release tickets cost just £10.
- The Scottish government are piloting a system of providing basic income for artists, which they call the Scottish Artists Minimum Income. It follows a similar scheme that was announced for rollout in Ireland earlier this year. England's turn when?
- In a wacky bit of irony, Muse have had to change their social media handles to Musetheband, because Meta's new AI tool has now taken the handle Muse. It all feels a bit... Muse.
- A new fundraising gig for Gaza is taking place at London's Troxy on October 24. Sleaford Mods are headlining, with Baxter Dury, Joe Armon-Jones and Sinead Ashiokai also on the bill.
- It's rare to see artists take action on the scale that Jane Remover did at M3F Fest. They threatened to drop off the bill in protest of the festival platforming the Israeli band Temper City, who have alleged ties to the IDF, and when no action was taken, they followed through.
- Superstruct - the festival company that has faced boycotts over its ties to KKR - has published a new code to support freedom of expression. It's adamant in defending artists who are very political on stage, but shouldn't this just be the default regardless?
- Exactly a year after Together For Palestine at Wembley Arena, another edition of the event is happening in New York. Given the intense, fast-moving affairs described above, it couldn't be more timely.
I won an award!
I had a surprise email on Wednesday night, which informed me I'd been nominated for an International Music Journalism Award (IMJA), which is awarded every year at Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg. I was nominated in the category of Best Work of Music Journalism Text (English), for my Drowned In Sound essay Deftones is for the girls, which I wrote in February. And, it's with awe and disbelief that I can tell you... I WON!! (Thank you endlessly Sean for nominating me).
Emma Wilkes