Hosts: Kraft, Tepper, Blank and Lurie Killed Macklemore's Halftime Slot, Not Sheeran

On a recent episode of their sports-talk radio show, hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty laid out what they say really happened behind Ed Sheeran's abrupt reversal on bringing Macklemore into his upcoming performance — and argued the singer is taking heat for a decision that was never his to make.

According to Getty, the pressure campaign started with Robert Kraft, the 85-year-old Patriots owner who is close enough to Sheeran that the singer performed at Kraft's most recent wedding. Kraft objected to hosting a performer who has said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. From there, Getty said, it spread fast: Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank backed Kraft, and Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie landed in the same place. Getty summarized the owners' position bluntly: "We're not having that crap in our stadium."

Armstrong said he'd expected Sheeran to resist the backlash. "I thought Sheeran was going to hold the line." He noted Sheeran ultimately framed his walk-back as being about family and close friends rather than the owners themselves — which Armstrong said would give him pause too, if his own inner circle broke from him publicly over an issue.

Getty tied the episode to a broader argument he's been making on the show, invoking writer James Lindsay's description of "the politics of compliance," in which staying neutral is treated as a betrayal rather than a legitimate position. "The idea of neutrality is poison. It doesn't exist in their worldview." Getty argued that framing explains why Sheeran is being cast as the villain for a call made by stadium owners, rather than praised for simply trying to stay out of it. As Getty put it, the demand on Sheeran wasn't to just play his songs — it was to risk his tour defending Macklemore's right to make the genocide claim, with neutrality treated as its own kind of offense.

Armstrong closed the segment noting that, given Sheeran's stature as one of the biggest musical acts on the planet, the whole point of that level of fame should be the ability to call his own shots — even if that shot is simply staying out of the fight.

Heard on The Armstrong & Getty Show — Give That Dollar To A Crackhead (2026-09-21).