The claim that a viral clip shows Ed Sheeran performing after his opening acts cancelled is false. PHOTO: VIDEO GRAB <\/p>\n
Several users and journalists have been sharing a video across social media platforms since September 16, 2026, claiming it shows Ed Sheeran performing after his opening acts pulled out of a tour following the Macklemore controversy. However, the video is old from December 2022.<\/p>\n
American rapper Macklemore announced on September 14, 2026, that he had been dropped from Ed Sheeran\u2019s Loop tour after making pro-Palestinian statements on stage.<\/p>\n
On September 15, 2026, Ed released an official statement on his Instagram, defending his decision to drop Macklemore from the tour, saying that he was axed following threats from venue owners, including Robert Kraft.<\/p>\n
The backlash to his statement was severe, with all the musical artists set to perform with him dropping out from the tour in support of Macklemore.<\/p>\n
Many renowned celebrities and singers also showed support for Macklemore. Among them were American singer-songwriter Finneas, Irish singer Aaron Rowe, Irish band Beoga, and Danish pop band Lukas Graham, who announced they would be pulling out of the tour.<\/p>\n
How it started <\/strong><\/p>\n On September 16, the producer of Jay Weber Show on News Talk 1130, Gregory Jon, shared a video <\/a>on X, claiming it shows Ed Sheeran performing after his opening acts cancelled the tour, with the following caption: \u201cSo the opening acts cancelled and his own band quit. Ed Sheeran says hold my beer.\u201d<\/p>\n The post gained 12.2 million views.<\/p>\n A social media user shared the same clip <\/a>with the following caption: \u201cFuck you nig****, he doesn\u2019t need a band!\u201d<\/p>\n The post accumulated 2.3m views<\/p>\n S\u00e9bastien M\u00e9li\u00e8res, editorial director at news magazine Vistazo,<\/em> also shared the same video <\/a>with the following caption: \u201cEd Sheeran was left without a band and without opening acts at the last minute. Instead of cancelling, he went out alone with the guitar and absolutely smashed it in the stadium. For two hours he was once again the artist of his beginnings.\u201d<\/p>\n The post racked up 1.6m views.<\/p>\n Another social media user shared the same video <\/a>with a similar caption, accumulating 1.1m views.<\/p>\n American journalist Joel M. Petlin posted the same clip <\/a>with the following caption: \u201cFor all the Ed Sheeran haters out there who think he can\u2019t perform on a stadium stage without a few anti-Israel warm up acts and a back up band, I have some really bad news for you.\u201d<\/p>\n It garnered 1m views.<\/p>\n Another X account posted the same clip <\/a>with a similar caption, gaining 1m views.<\/p>\n Another social media user shared the same video <\/a>with the following caption: \u201cWOW!!! Ed Sheeran had his own band cancel on him and he came out and crushed it in front of thousands of Fans. Absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n It gained 1.3m views.<\/p>\n Several other users also shared the clip across Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and X, as can be seen here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>; collectively accumulating 1.18m views.<\/p>\n Methodology<\/strong><\/p>\n A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the Sheeran-Macklemore controversy.<\/p>\n A keyword search was conducted to verify whether any credible international media outlets had recently reported that Sheeran performed an entire concert alone after his band and opening acts withdrew but no such reports or visuals confirming the recent solo performance were found.<\/p>\n A reverse image search was subsequently conducted to trace the origin of the viral video clip and yielded an earlier video<\/a> shared on YouTube by a user who appears to be a Sheeran fan on December 7, 2022, with the caption: \u201cEd Sheeran performing Shivers at Wembley Stadium. Loop pedal close up! Note: this video was extracted from the \u2018Full Circle\u2019 documentary about the Mathematics Tour, so unfortunately it\u2019s not a full performance. Not the perfect audio as well, but it was the best I could record.\u201d<\/p>\n The visuals were the same as those in the viral video.<\/p>\n