Israeli gets Ed Sheeran refund after Macklemore walkout

Less than a month after Michaela walked out of Ed Sheeran's concert at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, before the British singer even took the stage, she has received the email she fought for: a full refund from Ticketmaster.

Michaela left the venue during the opening act by rapper Macklemore, who turned his set into a charged pro-Palestinian rally. "It was very stressful, threatening, and incredibly frightening," she said at the time. She immediately contacted Ticketmaster and the production company demanding her money back, but was told flatly that refunds were not available unless the show itself was cancelled.

"No apology, nothing"

Yesterday, the email arrived. "They just sent an email saying we'll get a refund within a few days, and we actually received it yesterday," Michaela told Israeli news site Mako. "No apology, nothing, after I sent them so many emails and they told me it wasn't possible to refund. In the end they changed their mind."

Michaela admitted she did not believe she would see her money back until the very last moment. "I really didn't want to give him money, especially after I heard he's donating the money to Palestine, that our money would end up there," she explained, describing what drove her to keep pressing for the refund.

Antisemitic Rapper Macklemore (Photo: Shutterstock)

The storm that began in New Jersey

The controversy erupted when Macklemore, performing as Sheeran's opening act, called from the stage to "free Palestine" while images from the war in Gaza played on screens behind him. He made no mention of October 7th or the Hamas atrocities committed against the Jewish people, focussing only on the Anti-Israel narrative. The horrific anti-Semitic move by the rapper sparked a wave of backlash and ultimately led to the rapper being dropped from the rest of the tour.

Sheeran himself addressed the storm in a detailed statement, clarifying that the decision to remove Macklemore was not his but that of the venues and producers. "Venues where I am scheduled to perform later in the tour announced they would cancel the shows if he continued to serve as the opening act," the British singer said.

Macklemore, for his part, announced he would donate his entire fee from the tour, around a million dollars, to Pro-Palestinian organisations, and challenged the stadium owner, billionaire Robert Kraft, to match the sum. In response, Kraft revealed that Sheeran had personally approached him with a request to commit $2 million to humanitarian aid in the Gaza area.

Michaela's case joins a string of public responses to the contentious performances. Jewish singer Pink attacked Macklemore on social media, prompting calls for her removal as a UNICEF ambassador. Meanwhile, several artists withdrew from Sheeran's tour in solidarity with Macklemore, among them singer Finneas and Irish singer Aaron Rowe.