Macklemore has been removed from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour after sharing “Free Palestine” messaging onstage, with the rapper ultimately blaming Robert Kraft for his exit.
“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,” Messina Touring Group told Rolling Stone on Monday. “After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”
In turn, Macklemore spoke out about the decision in a lengthy Instagram post.
“Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from the Loop Tour. Before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. 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. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families,” he shared. “The victims are the Palestinian people-the men, women, and children who have been killed, starved, displaced, and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don’t lose sight of that.”
Macklemore further explained that his 13-year friendship with Sheeran “can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened,” despite considering him a brother (further noting his door remains open).
“Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him. We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium,” he claimed. “Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners, and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”
“Ed was in a f–ked up position. He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before,” Macklemore noted. “But he couldn’t get past his public-facing ‘I don’t take sides.’”
“Antisemitism is real. 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,” he added. “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. If those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve been on.”
Macklemore was originally scheduled to open for eight more shows on Sheeran’s tour, kicking back up Friday in Philadelphia. The update comes a week after the Israeli American Council condemned the rapper’s pro-Palestine stance, issuing a petition for his removal from the tour.
“To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, in no way is a criticism of you,” Macklemore said during his second night opening for Sheeran at the MetLife Stadium. “My message is for peace, love [and] for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect and equality.”
“So I say free Palestine. I say free Lebanon. I say free Cuba. I say free Congo, free Sudan, free all people in America living in fear over this terrorist organization ICE,” he continued. “None of us will be free until we are all free.”
His commentary previously sparked a response from Pink, who criticized her fellow musician 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.”
TheWrap has reached out to Macklemore, Kraft and Sheeran’s teams for comment.
