Macklemore dumped from Ed Sheeran’s tour over pro-Palestine comments

US rapper Macklemore says he was dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour after making pro-Palestine comments onstage at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium earlier this month.

The Thrift Shop rapper, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, is standing by his on-stage comments to “Free Palestine” in a detailed post on Instagram, where he revealed several US venues told promoters they would bar him from performing as the opening act on Sheeran’s Loop tour.

“What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years. So why is it an issue now?” Macklemore wrote on Tuesday morning (AEST), adding that he believed the stage had become a “resistance”, thus why it “became so important to silence me”.

“I’m sharing a stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stadiums in America. At a certain level of exposure, ‘Free Palestine’ becomes too much of a risk. If I kept doing the shows, saying Free Palestine, with Ed implicitly supporting it, the crowd getting loud and showing undeniable support for Palestinian liberation, what artist might speak out next?”

Sheeran has not commented, and a replacement opening act is yet to be confirmed.

The controversy began on September 4, when the Grammy Award-winning artist exclaimed “Free Palestine” while introducing his protest song Hind’s Hall, as footage of the devastation in Gaza was shown on a screen.

Written following the 2024 campus protests supporting Palestinians, it’s named for Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed after Israeli forces fired on her family’s car in Gaza City.

“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine,” he said at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

According to the BBC, after the performance, campaign group StopAntisemitism criticised Macklemore, saying “Jewish fans bought tickets to see Ed Sheeran sing ... [and] not to be ambushed by Macklemore’s anti-Israel propaganda”.

The following night, Macklemore returned to the stage and said: “To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, it in no way is criticism of you.”

“This message is for peace, love, for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality.”

A growing chorus of organisations and experts say Israel’s wartime actions in Gaza amount to genocide – an accusation Israel vehemently rejects.

Those comments drew criticism from fellow singer Pink, who is Jewish. She then attracted backlash herself.

“Last weekend [Macklemore] stood 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.”

“You don’t get to decide that for us,” she said.

Pink also pointed out that in 2014, Macklemore apologised for a costume he wore which included a black wig, beard and a fake hooked nose, which critics labelled antisemitic.

Macklemore addressed Pink’s comments in his Instagram post, saying the real victims were Palestinian people “who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence”.

The promoter, Messina Touring Group, confirmed in a statement to Rolling Stone that venues had notified it 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”.

Among the venues is Gillette Stadium, home to the NFL’s New England Patriots. Owner Robert Kraft said the decision to cancel Macklemore was a result of his recent comments “and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community”.

“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,” Kraft said in a statement Monday.

Macklemore’s advocacy “should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure the responsibility of Hamas,” Kraft said.

Macklemore said he holds no ill will toward Sheeran, who he considers a friend of 13 years.

“As I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened,” Macklemore wrote.

with AP

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