Rosie O’Donnell Slams Ed Sheeran for Not Canceling His Tour

Rosie O’Donnell has spoken out about the controversy surrounding Ed Sheeran’s troubled US tour.

The 64-year-old comedian addressed the issue during an appearance on Irish television on Friday.

Midway through the interview, The Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty asked O’Donnell for her reaction to Macklemore being removed as a supporting act earlier this month after making pro-Palestinian comments on stage.

Kielty presented New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft as directly responsible for the decision. Kraft’s Kraft Group owns Gillette Stadium.

In a September 14 statement, Macklemore accused Kraft of encouraging stadium owners to act against him after his September 5 performance at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, where he shouted, “Free Palestine!”

O’Donnell described Kraft as part of a “corrupt” group of “billionaire elites” who, she claimed, were secretly influencing the US government. “It’s very tragic,” she said.

She also praised Macklemore as “a staunch proponent of the ending of this genocide, and of the freedom for the Palestinian people.”

“Which I believe myself as well,” O’Donnell added. “He was brave and bold before anyone else was. And I admire him for that and for his courage.”

O’Donnell then turned her attention to Sheeran, accusing the 35-year-old singer of making “a very bad mistake” by failing to support Macklemore and continuing with the tour.

Instead, Sheeran issued a statement to Instagram on September 15 that maintained ‘Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision.’

“Not mine,” Sheeran told his more than 30 million followers.

In the post, the British singer said he had spoken with the venues “at length all week to try to build a bridge,” but that “the venue’s and promoter’s decision was final.”

Sheeran also made clear that he did not want to be pulled into a public debate over the war in Gaza.

“I am not complicit,” he told critics, while also praising Macklemore’s activism.

“However, there is room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace,” Sheeran wrote. “I choose to use my fame and platform to be a place of safety and sanctuary, to maintain diplomacy and keep conversations open, not closed.”

Four days later, at his first concert since Macklemore’s removal, Sheeran broke down in tears while discussing the criticism he had faced.

“I really didn’t know whether I’d be even getting on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all,” he told the Philadelphia audience.

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“In these situations, you really find out who your friends are, and it’s been a weird week. I just feel like it happened very quickly.”

Sheeran said he had previously avoided taking a public position because he did not want to be viewed as a “political commentator.”

‘This is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore,’ he said.

‘What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. 

‘What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable, and disproportionate.’

O’Donnell, however, didn’t buy it.

The comic said of Sheeran: ‘He will come to understand the ramifications of siding with a billionaire elite in supporting genocide, rather than the people who are saying, “This is wrong. We will not stand for it. We are human beings and each human life matters and that’s what’s the most important thing.”‘

She offered the comments shortly after talking up the Irish people for their historical attitude toward oppressed countries and peoples since their conflicts with the British.

O’Donnell moved to the Emerald Isle early last year, in a bid to escape Donald Trump’s second presidency. 

She recently returned to the States, to guest-host Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

She told the Tangle podcast last month that her team is currently charting potential paths for a full-time television return.  

‘It would look a lot like my old show, to tell you the truth. I think America wants nostalgia. I think what they don’t want is celebrity culture. I think celebrity culture is dead in America,’ she said at the time.

The Rosie O’Donnell Show had a six-year run in the late 90s and early 2000s. She then had two separate stints on The View – one that lasted less than a year in 2006, and one that only spanned six months in 2014. 

She left the show in February of the following year, for health and personal reasons.