{
  "id": 8047071,
  "title": "Contest to Open for Ed Sheeran Flooded With Free Palestine Videos and Fart Memes",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/contest-to-open-for-ed-sheeran-flooded-with-free-palestine-videos-and",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-17T15:01:31.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "404 Media",
    "slug": "404-media",
    "url": "https://www.404media.co/ed-sheeran-macklemore-open-for-legends-contest-guitar-center/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Ed Sheeran’s tour plans took an unexpected turn on September 14 when Guitar Center announced a contest to determine who would open for the singer during a Mexico City show. The announcement came shortly after Macklemore was removed from the last 10 shows of the U.S. leg of Sheeran’s tour due to his vocal support for Palestine. The contest, called “Open for Legends,” quickly became a target for trolls who flooded it with political posts and humorous content. Users posted everything from fart videos to inflammatory messages like \"FREE PALESTINE RELEASE THE FILES IT’S ALL GOTTA BURN,\" seemingly without any moderation. Some of the entries even featured links to relief efforts for Palestinians, such as Gaza Soup Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders. By Wednesday, the contest page was mostly free of the controversial content, with users posting more sincere submissions, like Sheeran-style songs about personal struggles. However, Guitar Center did not respond to requests for comment. Macklemore later posted on Instagram, expressing his disappointment over the conflict between Israel and Palestine and asserting his personal views on the matter.",
  "summary": "Guitar Center's 'Open for Legends' contest page was seemingly unmoderated for hours on Wednesday.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}