Richard Bacon has found himself in a spot of bother with his pro-Palestinian cohort after sharing a positive social media post in favour of Ed Sheeran.
The 49-year-old’s kind words were met with fury by thousands who’ve condemned Mr Sheeran following the dismissal of rapper Macklemore from his tour.
The rapper was forced to leave Mr Sheeran’s Loop Tour this week at the behest of the tour’s promoters and billionaire US stadium owner, Robert Kraft.
Mr Kraft and the Israel-American Council called for Macklemore’s exit after he used his support set to promote “Free Palestine” messaging and showed videos of Gaza to concertgoers.
Ed Sheeran is facing boycotts for refusing to end his tour after Macklemore’s exit
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GETTYMr Sheeran refused to be drawn into a public debate about Gaza and Palestine, but insisted he was “not complicit” and has several personal views that he’d rather not share.
The singer-songwriter added that he did not want to let down his fans or crew by cancelling the tour without Macklemore, which is set to resume in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
How the tour will look now remains unknown, especially since all of Mr Sheeran’s support acts and backing band decided to quit the upcoming dates in solidarity with Macklemore.
In the aftermath of the statements, Mr Sheeran has faced a torrent of abuse for failing to denounce Israel or promote pro-Palestinian messages. The outrage kept coming on Thursday despite the singer pledging to donate $2million to humanitarian causes in the region.
Macklemore and Ed Sheeran have been pals for over a decade | GETTY
The likes of Paloma Faith and Billy Bragg have publicly called on Mr Sheeran to end his tour early. At the same time, Bob Vylan, Kneecap, and several other political performers have applauded Macklemore on social media for his activism.
However, in arguably a surprising turn of events, Mr Bacon decided to wade into the debate to praise Mr Sheeran’s character.
“Anyone who’s met Ed Sheeran even for five minutes knows he’s a good person with a good heart,” the typically left-leaning presenter penned.
He doubled down on his stance in a separate post to disgruntled followers: “I’ve stood up for Ed today. On here. He’s a good man with a good heart.”
However, he reserved particular ire for Mr Kraft in a series of other posts. “Free speech! Free speech! Oh,” Mr Bacon sarcastically typed in response to the billionaire’s call for Macklemore to be removed.
He also maintained his anti-Israel stance in another post: “We’re finally at a point where if you point out that what the Israeli Government has done to Gaza is wrong. You don’t get gaslit.”
But despite his vocal criticism of Israel, Mr Bacon’s defence of Mr Sheeran resulted in a flood of abuse in his own inbox.
“Noooo Richard – what’s happened?” one X user asked. “Would never have expected you to make this tweet… normally an automatic heart for your tweets… but not this – never … so disappointing.” (sic)
Anyone who’s met Ed Sheeran even for five minutes knows he’s a good person with a good heart
— richard bacon (@richardpbacon) September 16, 2026
A second complaint read: “A thousand times no, Richard. Superficial ‘niceness’ means nothing if not backed up with genuine goodwill and selfless intent. The man has chosen wealth, power and convenience over making a stand against genocide. He’s shown his a**e.”
Another of Mr Bacon’s followers turned on him: “Normally agree with you on most things, Richard but Sheeran has screwed up badly on this one. A truly good person with a good heart would have stood by Macklemore.”
“It’s no good having a good heart if you don’t have a spine,” a fourth weighed in, before a fifth similarly disagreed: “A good person can still be a coward. He chose his path.”
And a sixth also disputed Mr Bacon’s defence: “He could pull those last shows to let people know where he stands; instead he hung out his friends to dry and sided with the corporate Zionists – he’s made his bed, he can lie in it.” (sic)
Meanwhile, Macklemore announced on Wednesday that he would be donating his entire $1m pay packet from Mr Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six Palestinian organisations “to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: to the Palestinian people”.
“This is a manmade injustice, and I believe it requires immediate political change,” he said on Instagram.