US rapper Macklemore has been dropped from the remainder of Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour after making several onstage comments in support of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Macklemore has faced backlash for performing the pro-Palestinian song Hind’s Hall while supporting Sheeran, with footage of the war in Gaza displayed on screens behind him.
He has also used his performances to criticise Israel’s actions in Gaza and urge audiences to support Palestinians, resulting in accusations of antisemitism and calls for him to be dropped from the tour.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Messina Touring Group, promoter of the US leg of Sheeran’s Loop Tour, said a number of venues along the tour route will not allow the concert to take place if Macklemore is featured in the line-up.
“After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates,” the touring group confirmed.
‘Difficult conversations’ with Sheeran over ‘painful disagreement’
In a statement shared to Instagram, the rapper confirmed he has been removed from the tour following “difficult conversations in the past week” with Sheeran.
Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, started his statement by saying the only victims in the situation are Palestinians, “who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence”.
He said Sheeran was contacted by Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft, who told him Macklemore would not be allowed to perform at the venue.
He also claimed Kraft had rallied other stadium owners, who warned Sheeran he would not be allowed to play at their venues if Macklemore remained on the tour.
“Ed was in a f***ed-up position. 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,” Macklemore stated.
“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’.
“And I get why people don’t. Taking a side can cost you: money, brand deals, sponsorships, festivals, private shows, relationships and access. I’ve lost all of those things. But there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed.
“When one side has the bombs and bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle.”
Despite the disagreement, Macklemore said he was hopeful his relationship with Sheeran would not be impacted by the decision.
“Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine, and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation,” he wrote.
Aussie singer Tones And I was among the first celebrities to comment on Macklemore’s statement, posting a heart emoji and saying, “Love you Ben! Ten toes down. Proud of you.”
Stadium owner accuses Macklemore of antisemitism
In his own statement, Kraft confirmed he had made the decision to prevent Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium, citing the rapper’s “recent actions”, material shared from the stage during Sheeran’s New Jersey shows and what he described as a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that had caused deep offence and hurt to the Jewish community.
However, Kraft did not address Macklemore’s claim that he had also “rallied” other stadium owners to pressure Sheeran to remove the rapper from the tour.
The venues allegedly refusing to let Macklemore perform are: Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia; Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts; Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina; AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Pink speaks out
The tour changes come after Pink shared a social media post calling for Macklemore to be dropped.
In a lengthy statement posted to Instagram, Pink said her response was not prompted by Macklemore’s support for Palestine, but his words aimed at Jews considering what she suggested is his history of antisemitism, including when he performed in a “hooked nose, a black beard and a bowl cut” in 2014.
Macklemore claimed the outfit was simply a “random costume” but Pink said in her post, “Every Jew I know knew exactly what it was”.
The pop star took issue with the rapper delivering his pro-Palestine message “with violent images from a war on the screens” and taking the mic “to tell all the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them.”
Pink said Macklemore doesn’t get to decide if Jews feel targeted by his condemnation of Israel.
“That’s what prompted my repost. Not ‘Free Palestine’, and not anyone’s right to say it,” she stated.
“I have never asked for another artist to be silenced and I’m not asking now.”
Pink, who is Jewish, said she wanted to be able to express her fear without being accused of supporting the war in Gaza.
“What I need is to be able to say, as a Jewish mom, ‘that scared me, and it scared people I love’, without being told our fear is just propaganda, and without being told I’m somehow cool with genocide because I noticed?”
The singer also reiterated her position on the Israel-Gaza conflict, saying Hamas is a terrorist organisation while Palestinians deserve a future that respects their humanity.
“Protecting innocent life comes first, everywhere, and nobody should ever celebrate the death of a child. Anybody’s child,” she stated.
Pink said she had spent years publicly supporting causes that had attracted criticism and described the latest backlash as particularly isolating.
“And now I’m standing up for my own people, and I thought I knew going in how lonely that would be. And it’s lonelier than that. But I’m doing it anyway.”
The tour is set to resume its final 10-show US leg in Philadelphia on September 19, with Macklemore originally slated to appear at eight of those performances.
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