What happened to Beoga after they quit the Loop Tour?
Beoga went from playing stadiums to playing clubs, and they did it without apology.
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The difference between Beoga's situation and the other acts who walked out is structural. Finneas, Aaron Rowe and Lukas Graham were support acts, meaning they had a slot in Sheeran's show and then went home. Beoga were his backing band. They were on stage with him every night, mid-set, playing the songs they co-wrote together. Leaving cost them more in practical terms, and their statement reflected that.
Beoga said performing in stadiums of that size had been "the stuff of dreams" and that they were not naive about what they were walking away from. But as they put it, playing in venues that silence anyone advocating for a free Palestine was "simply not an option for us." Their other line, as reported by Clash Magazine and NPR, was blunter still: "We are Irish people who understand colonialism."
What they walked into
Within days of quitting the Loop Tour, Beoga's Songkick page showed two upcoming dates booked: Mercury Lounge in Manhattan and Brighton Music Hall in Boston. Those are small clubs, the kind of room that holds a few hundred people rather than sixty thousand. There is no indication they landed a replacement stadium run or a new high-profile slot.
So the arc is stark. They spent months sharing a stage with one of the most commercially successful solo artists on the planet, then stepped off it on principle and returned to the circuit where most working traditional Irish musicians spend their careers. Whether that reads as a sacrifice or as a return to what they actually are depends on your frame.
The partnership with Sheeran
The friendship, at least publicly, remains intact. Beoga said so in their statement, and the tone throughout was careful not to make Sheeran the villain. As IBTimes reported, "one of Sheeran's longest-running musical partnerships is now absent from the remainder of his US tour, even as the friendship behind it appears set to survive." What nobody has answered yet is whether Beoga will join the Latin American leg in November and December, or whether this is a clean break from the touring relationship entirely. They said they would not be commenting further, and as of now, they have not.
Follow-ups
What is Ed Sherman’s stance? Why is he being unfollowed?
Sheeran's position is that he had no real choice, that venues forced his hand, and that he is not complicit in what happened, but a huge portion of his audience disagrees, and they are walking away from him on Instagram by the hundreds of thousands.
Sheeran's position is that he had no real choice, that venues forced his hand, and that he is not complicit in what happened, but a huge portion of his audience disagrees, and they are walking away from him on Instagram by the hundreds of thousands.
spio.comWhat Sheeran actually said
In a lengthy post on Instagram, Sheeran responded to the backlash, saying it was "important that I set out some facts." His core argument had two parts. First, the decision to remove Macklemore, Sheeran said, came after venues said they would pull future shows if they included Macklemore. Second, he said that Macklemore asked to join his tour and he agreed, because he respected him as an artist, and that as with all his support acts, he agreed they could play a setlist of their choosing. The implication was that he bore no ill will toward Macklemore and had no political motive. Although Sheeran insisted he is "not complicit" in the controversy and that it was not his decision to drop Macklemore, he has been met with massive backlash over his apolitical stance.
The statement did not land well. After what commentators called a very ill-advised PR statement, which did more damage to Sheeran's brand than anything else, and all of his opening acts quitting in solidarity with Macklemore, he faced a reputation-staining backlash. Commentators called him "spineless" and a "lowlife coward"; former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters dismissed him as a "prick"; and Massive Attack reminded Sheeran that "'Neutrality' in the face of the slaughter of more than 20,000 children can never be neutrality."
The unfollow numbers
The social fallout is measurable. In the day since Macklemore announced he had been dropped, Sheeran lost nearly 150,000 Instagram followers, while during the same 24-hour period Macklemore gained over 750,000. The gap in how their respective statements landed tells the same story: Sheeran's statement, posted to his 47.3 million followers, was liked 544,000 times, while Macklemore's statement, shared to his 7.9 million followers, was liked 6.9 million times.
Beyond fans, artists who have a direct connection to Sheeran have also moved. Members of global girl group Katseye unfollowed Sheeran on Instagram, with members Manon, Daniela, Lara, Megan and Yoonchae all stopping to follow him, while Lara and Megan also liked a post Macklemore shared after he was dropped. The detail that makes this pointed is the prior relationship: Sheeran co-wrote Katseye's third EP, "Animal," released in July, after he became a fan of the group and reached out to collaborate.
His music has also been pulled from a major Irish radio station. Ireland is significant here, given that Beoga, Aaron Rowe and Lukas Graham all invoked Irish and European sensibilities in their own exit statements, and Sheeran's relationship with Ireland has historically been one of the warmest parts of his public identity.
The underlying tension is simple: Sheeran's argument is structural, that venues hold the power and left him no room. His critics' argument is moral, that a man with his platform always has room, and choosing not to use it is itself a choice.
Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour lost every one of its supporting acts in September 2026 after rapper Macklemore was dropped from the tour for making pro-Palestinian comments onstage, with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft reported to be the force behind his removal.
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