Ed Sheeran’s major move in Macklemore scandal could backfire, expert claims. Two others insist he’ll be just fine

Analysis: It’s the question on millions of lips right now: can Ed Sheeran’s career survive the scandal he sparked after dropping Macklemore from his tour?

According to PR experts, the answer is “yes” – but that doesn’t mean he’ll get off scot-free.

Macklemore got the boot after Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft took issue with him saying “Free Palestine” on stage and insisting he wouldn’t let Sheeran play scheduled shows at the venue if he kept the rapper on.

The tour promoter dropped Macklemore, and Sheeran issued a social media statement insisting it wasn’t his decision and maintaining a neutral stance on the war in Gaza.

Publicist Heidi Anderson told nine.com.au staying neutral could cause trouble for Sheeran even though he’s spent years building one of the most universally likeable brands in music.

“Staying ‘neutral’ can start to look less like diplomacy and more like protecting the tour and the business,” she said.

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“That perception becomes even stronger when Macklemore and several other artists appear prepared to lose money and major career opportunities to stand by their values.”

Staying neutral could permanently change the way some people view Sheeran, like the tens of thousands that have already unfollowed him on social media.

If he wants to win them back, Anderson said, he’ll have to do much more than post a notes app statement on social media.

“His statement may have explained that removing Macklemore was the promoter’s decision, but that doesn’t completely remove Ed’s responsibility in the eyes of the public,” Anderson said.

“People are naturally going to question why he couldn’t pause the tour, relocate certain shows or find another solution. If those options genuinely weren’t possible, his team needed to explain those limitations much more clearly.”

Chief executive of Entertainment Consulting Karen-Lee Goody feels differently.

Staying politically neutral has worked for other artists, including Sheeran’s billionaire pal Taylor Swift, who has mostly steered clear of politics since 2016.

Goody told nine.com.au staying neutral was the right move for Sheeran’s brand and that if she was on his PR team, she’d urge him to stay quiet now.

“Sometimes less is more, from a PR point of view ... I would basically be saying, ‘We’ve put our statement out, and that’s it. There’s no more,’” she said.

“Because anything after this, it’s only it’s going to be pulled out of context ... and you’re just pouring fuel on the fire.”

Sheeran’s team are probably scrambling to keep stakeholders – from the record label, to brand partners, venue owners, and fans – happy right now and Goody said there’s no way to fix this situation, only try to manage it.

“In this sort of situation you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” she said.

Thinkerbell founder Adam Ferrier agreed Sheeran made a smart move by staying neutral and should stick to it, no matter how many artists or fans push him to make some big political statement.

“He won’t say anything controversial. He never has, and he never will,” he told nine.com.au.

It could actually do more harm than good if Sheeran did decide to bow to pressure and make a big political statement now, which is why Ferrier is sure he won’t do it.

“Ed Sheeran, to me, is this generation’s Coldplay. He’s a vanilla artist [with] a very wholesome, very apolitical brand

“And he’s reinforced his brand by saying, in his very carefully worded statement, ‘this has got nothing to do with me.’

“How he’s choosing to handle it is brand management perfection. He’s just handling like a brand guru.”

Will Ed Sheeran’s career survive?

Historically, the artist scandals that do the most brand damage are the ones that devalue what they’re selling, like Milli Vanilli being exposed for not singing their own hit songs.

This saga doesn’t hold the same weight, which is why Farrier and Goody suspect it will blow over fairly quickly.

“I think the hardcore Ed Sheeran fans will go, ‘You know what? It’s not his fault, he’s just being dragged into it,’” Goody said.

“Those who have a very political or moral stance, maybe they do cancel him. But he’s got a global platform and squillions of followers.”

Anderson said that while Sheeran’s career will survive, the bigger question is whether his reputation comes out of it unchanged.

“I don’t believe it will,” she said.

Could this scandal set a precedent?

Though Goody suspects Sheeran will escape this scandal unscathed, it does set a concerning precedent.

If venues and other stakeholders start using their power to demand artists be removed from tours over their politics, it could cause major problems across the industry and for individual artists.

“It’s a tricky situation because it has gone from what is a commercial arrangement with a promoter and a venue, into moral and personal agendas,” Goody said.

“Will they then have the right to veto what a person can and can’t do or say in that venue? How far is it going to go?”

She’s also concerned about the growing power of billionaires like Kraft, who reportedly pushed for Macklemore to be removed from Sheeran’s tour.

“Billionaires having the power and the finances and the resources to cancel people, kill careers, create a shitstorm ... that concentrated power in the hands of a few, is extraordinarily dangerous for democracy and free speech,” she said.

What happened between Ed Sheeran and Macklemore

For the uninitiated, the saga kicked off when Kraft reportedly started a pressure campaign to get Macklemore kicked off the tour after he said, “Free Palestine” and expressed support for Gaza on stage.

Sheeran then told Macklemore he had to go, according to a statement the Downtown rapper posted on Instagram.

“Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively gave him an ultimatum: ‘If Macklemore stays on tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues’,” it read.

Sheeran released his own social media statement soon after, where he tried to set the story straight while staying neutral on war in Gaza.

“Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine. Macklemore’s contract for the tour was with the promoter, not me,” he wrote.

Sheeran said he would not be drawn into public debate about Israel and Palestine.

“I am not complicit. I have my personal views on this devastating conflict,” he said.

“Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn’t mean I don’t have them, and it doesn’t mean I don’t care. Nor does it mean I don’t support causes in my own, personal way.”

All of Sheeran’s support acts – including Finneas (aka Billie Eillish’s brother), Danish pop band Lukas Graham and Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga – then dropped out of the tour.

Other artists from around the world are also weighing in on the saga, which is still ongoing at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, Macklemore announced he will donate the $US1 million ($1.4 million) he earned on the Loop Tour to organisations supporting Palestine and challenged Kraft to do the same.

Surprisingly, Kraft did just that and said Sheeran encouraged the move.