Ed Sheeran is seemingly responding to his cousin Jethro Sheeran’s digs in the wake of the Grammy-winning singer’s ongoing Loop Tour controversy.
“The other text messages were, like, from a family member who I haven’t spoken to in a very long time,” Ed, 35, said during his Saturday, October 3, concert in Atlanta, revealing he received notifications from old conversations when he recently located a discarded phone of his from a decade ago. “You might have seen [my relative] recently on social media.”
While Ed didn’t mention his family member by name, Jethro, 44, recently took aim at his cousin for his stance over opening act Macklemore’s dismissal from the Loop Tour roster. (Macklemore, 43, was let go by Ed’s touring company after receiving backlash for chanting “Free Palestine” and denouncing genocide in all forms at the New Jersey shows last month.)
“I’m ashamed of my cousin Ed,” Jethro wrote in a September 17 social media post. “Finally, the world and all his fans see through him. He’s not a good person, I don’t like his music so I can’t say he’s even a good artist. He’s honestly a selfish individual with malicious, cunning ways.”
Ed never publicly addressed Jethro’s comments, while the producer has doubled down on his perspective.
“We were pretty close. But early on, I saw the snake in him,” Jethro claimed on Piers Morgan Uncensored later in September. “He’s very talented and people think I’m jealous. But jealous of what? His looks? His guitar? His singing? … Seeing what he did to Macklemore I believe he kicked him off that show. I believe he did it with his team and then he blamed the promoter.”
Ed, for his part, has publicly denied he was involved in dismissing Macklemore from the tour. As he continued touring, the “Thinking Out Loud” singer issued an apology for making “mistakes.”
“I’m used to my music being criticized, and I’m always happy to take that because I’m lucky. A lot of you like my stuff, and to be honest, I’m surprised,” he began his September 19 show in Philadelphia. “I’m not surprised that I’ve even done it. You know, it’s normal. This week, the criticism was about something much more important, and I’ve had to take [it in] and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so so sorry.”
Ed Sheeran enlisted one of his musical heroes as a “special guest” for his Atlanta concert following the controversy over dropping Macklemore from his Loop Tour. Multiple social media reports confirmed that The Fray’s former frontman Isaac Slade performed an abbreviated set before Sheeran’s headlining performance at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday, October 3. In between […]
Ed further stressed that he has never wanted to “disappoint fans.”
“This has put me in the middle of an important, passionate argument about freedom of speech on the most complex issue on the planet,” he added at the time. “[My music] has always been a safe space for everyone. That matters hugely to me. Honoring my commitment to my fans is also completely essential to who I am. That is why I’m here tonight — on my own — continuing my own tour.”
Several of Ed’s support acts left the Loop Tour in solidarity with Mackelmore. He enlisted The Fray musician Isaac Slade to join the concert on Saturday, October 3.
