Philip DeFranco
Role at the time: Host of The Philip DeFranco Show, giving his own commentary.
Response to this claim
Ed Sheeran and his team decided to remove Macklemore from the remaining Loop Tour support dates.
“at the very least, I'm disappointed in Ed”
September 14 episode on Philip DeFranco's verified YouTube channel. His own opinion criticizes Sheeran's response to Macklemore's removal and rejects conflating criticism of Israel's government with antisemitism. The criticism is directed at Sheeran's response and exclusion, not at Macklemore's speech. The Ms. Rachel quotation at 13:43-13:52 belongs to her and is excluded from DeFranco's excerpt. Sheeran's purported private remarks and Kraft/stadium-owner coordination are presented as attributed accounts, not independently proven by this video.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The condemnation targets Sheeran's response and the exclusion of Macklemore, not Macklemore's original speech. DeFranco expressly voices disappointment and criticizes the reported refusal to take sides; his subsequent argument about conflation supports that evaluation. This substantive criticism is stronger than a characterization-only label. Ms. Rachel's embedded statement is not counted as his words.