Ticket Refunds Begin for Ed Sheeran Following Backlash for ‘Bad Behaviour’: Just Days After Finneas, Lukas Graham, Beoga and Aaron Rowe Withdraw

Ticket refunds for Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour are already starting to roll in, even though the tour hasn’t been canceled. Fans looking to get out of Saturday’s Philadelphia show have reported receiving full refunds through Ticketmaster, despite no official refund policy being announced for that date. It’s a different story so far for Sheeran’s Sept. 25 and 26 shows at Gillette Stadium, where the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office says it has received at least 25 consumer complaints over refund requests, up sharply from just nine a day earlier. Sheeran’s own tour policy states that ticket sales are final and that lineup changes don’t guarantee a refund, so how those complaints get resolved remains an open question.

The refund requests are tied to a lineup collapse that’s left Sheeran without a single opener. Finneas, Lukas Graham, Beoga and Aaron Rowe have all withdrawn from the tour’s remaining U.S. dates, each citing solidarity with Macklemore, who was dropped from the tour earlier this month after calling for a “Free Palestine” and performing his song “Hind’s Hall” onstage at MetLife Stadium.

Sheeran has said the decision to remove Macklemore wasn’t his, attributing it to the tour’s promoters and venues, and confirming he’d spoken with Patriots owner and Gillette Stadium co-owner Robert Kraft, who he said was one of the main voices pushing for Macklemore’s removal.

The reaction from Sheeran’s other openers came fast. Rowe was first to go; Finneas followed within the hour: “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed.” Lukas Graham posted their own statement calling it a hard decision but adding, “Money doesn’t give you the right to own the conversation.” Beoga, who’d been playing a mid-set segment alongside Sheeran throughout the tour, said they were leaving “following the silencing of Macklemore.”

Online, plenty of fans have redirected their frustration toward Kraft rather than Sheeran or the departing openers, with many in comment threads and on social media calling his conduct “bad behavior” and questioning why he’d wade into the situation at all.