Guitar Centre's competition for musicians to audition for Ed Sheeran's tour is still open following Macklemore's removal and other openers voluntarily dropping out.

Macklemore was removed from the tour after his “Free Palestine” speech during Sheeran's Loop tour stops at MetLife Stadium. The speech went viral, causing nationwide attention and requests that Macklemore be removed from the tour. FINNEAS, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe, and Beoga also followed suit, leaving the tour voluntarily and making statements in favor of the rapper.

Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, allegedly expressed concern to Sheeran about the tour if Macklemore was on the bill, telling the singer, “If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”

Kraft responded in his own message on social media, writing, “Gillette Stadium has a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests and ensuring that events held at our venue do not provide a platform for hate speech. Based on Macklemore's recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran's shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line.”

He added, “This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf. Their pain and loss are real. But that advocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure the responsibility of Hamas, a United States and globally designated terrorist organization whose horrific actions have caused immeasurable suffering for Palestinians and Israelis alike. I agree with Macklemore. Too many lives have been lost, and there has been too much suffering, but only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only advances more divisiveness and hate.”

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Was the competition in response to Macklemore and Robert Kraft's feud?

To answer simply, no. According to NME, the contest launched on August 19, and Macklemore's speech on Sheeran's tour occurred on September 4 and 5. However, at the time of this writing, the application for the contest is still open. 

There has not been a resolution on whether the openers will be replaced. Sheeran's next tour stop is at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA, scheduled for Saturday, September 19.