Macklemore Reacts to Being Dropped From Ed Sheeran Tour Over ‘Painful Disagreement’ of His ‘Free Palestine’ Chant

Macklemore has spoken out following the news that he’s been dropped from Ed Sheeran‘s tour in light of the rapper’s onstage comments calling for a “free Palestine.”

In a candid statement posted to Instagram after his dismissal was announced on Monday (Sept. 14), Macklemore confirmed that he was no longer a part of the Loop Tour’s U.S. leg and wrote, “Before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious … I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim.”

“We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world,” he continued. “Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families. The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence.”

The “Thrift Shop” artist went on to emphasize that Sheeran is his friend of 13 years, making what’s transpired all the more “difficult” for both stars. “I consider him a brother,” Macklemore wrote of the British singer. “Nothing I’m writing here is out of spite or because I want to tear down his character. But as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.”

According to Macklemore, Sheeran told him a week ago that Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft had called to say that the “Same Love” musician “would not be allowed to perform in his stadium” in Foxborough, Mass., where the Loop trek is scheduled to stop for two nights on Sept. 25 and 26. Kraft also allegedly “rallied some of the other stadium owners” and gave Sheeran an “ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”

Billboard has reached out to Sheeran’s reps and Kraft Sports Group for comment.

“Ed was in a f–ked up position,” Macklemore wrote. “He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before. He told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood. But he couldn’t get past his public facing, ‘I don’t take sides.'”

The Seattle native expressed empathy toward Sheeran for his concerns, but affirmed his own position that “there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed.”

“Antisemitism is real,” Macklemore added. “And that is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state. When criticizing Israel, opposing Zionism or saying ‘Free Palestine’ gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn’t protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.”

“I hope this isn’t the end of my relationship with Ed,” Macklemore concluded. “Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement … I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say. Free Palestine. But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on.”

Macklemore faced swift backlash earlier in September when he made pro-Palestine speeches at both his Sept. 4 and 5 performances supporting Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The Israeli-American Council launched a petition to drop the rapper from the rest of his scheduled Loop Tour dates, and Pink reshared a post calling for his removal before slamming Macklemore for standing “in front of a stadium full of music-loving families, with violent images from a war on the screens, dedicated a song to the movement of his choice, and then took the mic to tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them” in a statement.

It was first announced that Macklemore — who has long been vocal in his belief that Israel has been committing genocide against Palestinians ever since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, something that has been affirmed by the United Nations but denied by Israel and the U.S. government — had been dismissed from the tour Monday morning via a statement from Messina Touring Group.

“As the concert promoter for Ed Sheeran’s U.S. Loop Tour, we have been notified by venues on the upcoming U.S. tour dates that they will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans,” a spokesperson told Rolling Stone at the time. “After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”