Ed Sheeran kicks Macklemore off tour after pressure from Jewish billionaires over fiery pro-Palestine speeches

Rapper Macklemore has been kicked off Ed Sheeran’s US stadium tour. The move comes after pro-Palestinian comments were uttered on stage during Macklemore’s warm-up sets.

The artist, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, spoke out against Israel’s occupation of Palestine during two shows earlier this month. He told crowds he joined the tour specifically to voice support for Palestine.

Tour promoter Messina Touring Group told Rolling Stone that venues threatened to ban the concerts. After facing mounting pressure, Sheeran and his tour organizers ultimately decided to boot Macklemore off the concert tour.

Pro-Palestine remarks

Macklemore’s pro-Palestine remarks began at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Macklemore told the audience, “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 then performed his song Hind’s Hall while screens showed footage from Gaza. According to BBC, Campaign group StopAntisemitism quickly criticized the set, stating, “Jewish fans bought tickets to see Ed Sheeran sing… not to be ambushed by Macklemore’s anti-Israel propaganda.”

Macklemore must have heard those comments because on the second night he addressed Jewish fans directly. He said that “criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, is in no way a criticism of you.”

Billionaire owners did not take kindly to Macklemore’s activism on stage. Jewish businessman and owner of the New England Patriots Robert Kraft banned the artist from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, accusing him of providing “a platform for hate speech.”

Activism can cost you

After the news broke, Macklemore issued a long Instagram statement. He acknowledged that taking a political stance carries serious professional costs. “Taking a side can cost you,” he wrote.

He also rejected claims of antisemitism, writing that “one of the most effective ways to enforce silence has been to weaponize the accusation of antisemitism.”

There was also a parting shot at Ed Sheeran, which Macklemore claims was fence-sitting.

“[Ed] 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.’”

Despite not being the warm-up act anymore, Macklemore insisted that raising awareness was worth being fired from the tour.

This article is made and published by Daniel Wolfram, who may have used AI in the preparation