PHILADELPHIA — Is the Ed Sheeran concert scheduled for Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field going to go on?

As of Friday morning, it appears that it is.

The enormously popular British singer-songwriter’s Loop Tour has been in crisis since earlier this week when rapper Macklemore was dropped as an opener over pro-Palestinian comments he made during two shows at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4 and 5. He performed his 2024 song “Hind’s Hall,” about pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University, showing footage from the war in Gaza and shouting out “Free Palestine.”

Macklemore was dropped from the tour under pressure from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft by promoters Messina Touring Group, who told Rolling Stone that several venues “will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup.”

Those venues include Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, which Kraft owns, and Lincoln Financial Field, where Sheeran’s tour is scheduled to resume on Saturday.

All of Sheeran’s opening acts — Finneas, Danish pop artist Lukas Graham, Irish band Beoga, and Irish singer Aaron Rowe — have since quit in solidarity with Macklemore.

No new opening acts have been announced. Despite the lack of scheduled opening acts, Ticketmaster is still listing Saturday’s show as having an early start time at 5:30 p.m.

“Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave [Sheeran] an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues,” Macklemore’s Monday social media post reads.

In a statement obtained by USA Today Sports, Kraft acknowledged his decision that Macklemore’s “participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line.”

“Too many lives have been lost and there has been too much suffering,” he wrote, “but only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only advances more divisiveness and hate.”

The Linc is owned by the city but its day-to-day functions and events are managed by the Eagles. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the respective owners of the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons decided to not host the Sheeran concert if Macklemore was not removed from the bill, and that “Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie would soon reach the same conclusion, as the owners traded phone calls and prepared to address the situation.”

The Eagles did not respond to the Inquirer’s request for comment on whether Lurie played any role in the decision to drop Macklemore. The Philadelphia mayor’s office and Messina Touring Group did not respond to requests for comments either.

On Tuesday, Sheeran took to social media to say that he was in touch with venue owners, promoters, and activists to “find a mutual resolution for all.”

He respects Macklemore’s “strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes,” he said, but found it hard to “build bridges” with venue owners and promoters because of the way the rapper “conveyed part of his message” during his shows at MetLife.

Not removing Macklemore, Messina representatives said in a Monday statement, would “result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans.”

Local grassroots organizations have spoken out in protest of Macklemore’s removal from the tour lineup.

The local office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, published an open letter on Wednesday to the Philadelphia Eagles, City of Philadelphia, Lincoln Financial Group, and other groups.

The group criticized the decision to remove Macklemore from the “Loop Tour,” calling it a violation of free speech.

“This is about more than one artist or one concert,” the organization stated. “It raises serious questions about free expression, public accountability, and whether advocacy for Palestinian human rights can become grounds for exclusion from a major venue operating on publicly owned property.”

The group has submitted a right-to-know form with the state’s office of open records, requesting information about which party told the Messina Touring Group that Macklemore was no longer able to perform.

A coalition of pro-Palestinian protesters announced Friday they will rally outside the South Philly stadium before Sheeran’s concert.

Adi Chattopadhyay, a West Philly resident who intends to participate in the demonstration, said the protest is to combat the silencing of pro-Palestinian advocacy and the suppression of freedom of speech.

The rally, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, will include speakers from Writers Against the War on Gaza, the Boycott Cooknsolo Coalition, and Shut Down Day & Zimmermann, according to a statement.

Regarding the expected protests in South Philly on Saturday, Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson Tanya Little said in a statement: “As with all large events at the stadium complex, the Philadelphia Police Department is working closely with venue and event organizers to help ensure the safety of concert-goers, employees, and neighborhood residents.”

“PPD routinely monitors large events and assesses staffing needs to ensure an appropriate police presence. The Department will continue to monitor the event and make any necessary adjustments based on public safety needs.”

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(Staff reporters Dan DeLuca and Maggie Prosser contributed to this article.)

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