Macklemore dumped from Ed Sheeran’s US tour for saying “free Palestine” at concert
Macklemore was booted from Ed Sheeran’s US tour after provoking outrage by saying “free Palestine” at one of the stadium stops this month, the US rapper said Monday.
US rapper Macklemore was booted from Ed Sheeran’s US tour after provoking outrage by saying “free Palestine” at one of the stadium stops this month.
The artist made headlines after telling the crowd at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey that he wanted the people of Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten.
That led to accusations of anti-Semitism and calls for him to be removed - including from singer Pink.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Stadium owners closed ranks and told the tour organisers that Macklemore was not welcome.
“We have been notified by venues on the upcoming US tour dates that they will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the line-up, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans,” said a statement from Messina Touring Group, which is promoting Sheeran’s US Loop Tour.
“After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”
Macklemore said on Instagram he hoped the decision would not affect his relationship with his “friend” Sheeran, who he said was in a difficult position.
“His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before,” he wrote.
“I hope this isn’t the end my relationship with Ed. Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement.
“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.”
“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.”
Macklemore, known for hits including “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us,” has long taken a stand in support of the Palestinians.
In 2024, he released Hind’s Hall which pays tribute to Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl whose death sparked a wave of international outrage.
“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 told the crowd in New Jersey on September 4.
He then performed Hind’s Hall.
According to the BBC, Macklemore returned to the same stage and addressed his “Jewish brothers and sisters” in the audience.
“Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, is in no way a criticism of you,” he said.
A petition by the Israeli-American Council urged Sheeran to remove him from the tour, saying the rapper used “biased messaging and dispute claims”.
“This was an Ed Sheeran concert -- not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event,” the council said.
US pop star Pink, who is Jewish, took aim at Macklemore.
“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,” she posted. “You don’t get to decide that for us.”
After Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing more than 1,200 people, the Israeli military response killed more than 73,000 people, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health authority, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
