Ed Sheeran’s “Not My Call” Defense Doesn’t Match Macklemore’s Version of the Same Phone Call

Ed Sheeran finally addressed Macklemore’s exit from his Loop stadium tour on Tuesday, posting a bulleted Instagram statement captioned “It’s important that I set out some facts,” saying the venues and promoters pulled Macklemore, not him. Here’s the problem: that’s not what Macklemore said a day earlier about that same phone call. Macklemore says Ed personally told him Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium, called with an ultimatum over his Free Palestine comments. Two accounts, same call, and they don’t match. On the same Tuesday Takeover, Tyler Perry swore off marriage, and Gizelle Bryant broke down Potomac’s floral cast photo as RHUGT wrapped Atlanta with Vicki Gunvalson under fire again. Here’s what actually happened.

This Is a Lot of Detail for Somebody Making It Up

Macklemore posted his statement Monday, the same day the news broke that he’d officially been dropped from the tour, and it read nothing like Ed’s bullet points. He said that last Monday, in the middle of the Pink fallout over his Free Palestine comments at MetLife, Ed told him Robert Kraft called about Gillette Stadium, where they were booked to play later this month. According to Macklemore, Kraft said he wouldn’t be allowed to perform there, then rallied other stadium owners into the same ultimatum: keep Macklemore on the tour and lose the venues. Macklemore said Ed told him the words “free Palestine” and the Palestinian flag had been “hurtful” to people he’d spoken with, and that he asked Ed why those words were more offensive than the death toll in Gaza. He also said the two have been friends for 13 years and that this wasn’t about tearing Ed down, just telling the truth about what happened. Here’s the thing: that’s a lot of specific, named detail — Kraft, Gillette, the phone call, the timeline — for someone supposedly making it up.

Bullet Points Aren’t Going to Cover This One, Ed

Sheeran’s statement landed a day later, and it read like a legal memo instead of an answer. He said Macklemore’s contract for the tour was with the promoter, not him, that support acts choose their own set lists, and that he spent the week trying to “build a bridge” between venues and activists. Nowhere in it did he mention Robert Kraft, the phone call, or the ultimatum Macklemore says he personally relayed. That’s not a small omission. If Macklemore’s version is accurate, Ed wasn’t a bystander watching promoters make a decision above his head — he was the one delivering the news. A stadium-selling artist with hundreds of millions of followers has leverage most acts don’t, and if he wanted Macklemore on that stage badly enough, we’d know, because he’d have called their bluff instead of posting a caption about “setting out facts.” I’m not saying Ed forced anyone off a tour for fun. I am saying his statement conveniently leaves out the one detail that would make him look like more than a middleman.

He Hasn’t Been on a Date in 30 Years — Make That Make Sense

Tyler Perry told press for Why Did I Get Married Again?, out now on Netflix, that the movie was filmed in four days, and co-star Tasha Smith used the same junket to shut down plastic surgery rumors, saying it was “a little bit of Botox” and nothing more. Perry also said he’s moving to Puerto Rico at the top of the year to slow down and spend more time with his son, and that he’s never getting married. He gave two different reasons depending on who asked: he told The Jennifer Hudson Show he’s watched millionaire and billionaire friends lose half their fortunes in divorce, and told another interviewer that writing the film’s messy marriages scared him off the idea himself. He also volunteered, unprompted, that he hasn’t been on a date in 30 years. Perry is currently facing multiple lawsuits from former employees alleging sexual harassment, allegations he denies and that remain unproven. Here’s the thing: “I haven’t dated in 30 years” lands very differently sitting next to active litigation than it would on its own. Nobody’s saying the two are connected. But when you volunteer that detail without anyone asking, people are going to do the math themselves.

Vicki’s “Off Day” Excuse Is Getting Old

On Reasonably Shady, Gizelle Bryant said the moment Bravo told the Potomac cast this season’s photo theme was florals, “we all were like, hell no,” before admitting the final shoot came out “ethereal.” She said nobody told her to skip a full gown; she chose that herself since she’s returning as a friend of the show, not a full-time housewife, and Robyn Dixon backed her up, confirming she’s in the same lane this season. Meanwhile, Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip wrapped its Atlanta stop with Vicki Gunvalson getting called out again for acting standoffish, this time by Robyn, who was in the room and said Vicki acted like she’d never met anyone there. Vicki’s defense was that “not everyone can be on all the time,” and I’m not buying it any more than the rest of the cast did — Vicki and Shannon Storms Beador have both been called rude across multiple franchises now, and that pattern makes “off day” a harder excuse every time it resurfaces. How do you guys feel about all of it — is Ed’s statement a real accounting of what happened, or convenient timing? Kempire After Dark hits The Green Room 42 on September 25, the last live show of the year. Here we go.

Disclaimer: This post is based on publicly available information and credited sources. All allegations are unproven