Ed Sheeran tour drops Macklemore after his onstage support for Palestine
Rapper Macklemore is a vocal supporter of Palestine and Gaza residents. During a recent concert at MetLife Stadium, he yelled "Free Palestine!" onstage, projected images of devastation in the area, and performed protest song "Hind's Hall."
Now, it seems that American venues are not willing to play ball with the Seattle artist, and he has been dropped from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour.
"After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates," according to Messina Touring Group, the promoter of Loop Tour. This news follows backlash from organizations like StopAntisemitism and others, such as pop star Pink.
https://theneedledrop.com/news/ed-sheeran-tour-drops-macklemore-after-his-onstage-support-for-palestine/Open linkView original on lemmy.dbzer0.com
60 replies
So Ed Sheeran is a piece of shit, eh?
"American Venues"
Not sure who's calling the shots here
EDIT:
If Robert Kraft and the other stadium owners break tour contracts over a "we don't like your opener" thing after they already signed, it'll be huge fees and possibly a lawsuit. Ed Sheeran had leverage here and he didn't use it.
It's not like Macklemore has been quiet about his stance on Palestine. If it were a problem with Ed Sheeran, he probably wouldn't have been on the tour in the first place.
Yeah but Sheeran is willing to bend the knee to keep the tour going. A real one would apologize to fans and let it be known it's the venue owners cancelling shows and why.
It's not like he's some Indy act who won't get more shows.
Ed is a brand, not a talent.
Watch. If he had refused to go on without Macklemore, these guys would've said "oh the rich baby didn't want to go on because Macklemore said Palestine" or some shit.
Blame the rich fucks for their crimes; don't invent new catch-22s to hang on them.
If "these guys" you're talking about are Zionists, then I don't think he should care what kind of vitriol they try to brew up for him. In fact, pissing them off is often the correct stance.
…and then Sheeran chose wrong.
So a piece of shit
Nothing says "good guy" like compromising your principles for money, right? tf is your argument here?
It's likely not up to him as he has contractual obligations that could ruin more than just his own livelihood.
The whole system is fucked. Rotten to the core
Won’t somebody think of the millionaires? His whole livelihood is at stake here!
And it's not like his livelihood is even at massive risk - he's a big enough name that any arena worth his time to perform at will be big enough that there won't be other acts available that will sell enough seats at short notice, so they're pretty likely to cave if he puts his foot down.
And the truck & bus drivers, catering, roadies, grips, crew, wardrobe, sound guys. You think he puts in all the work himself?
Listen I'm not defending Ed Sheeran's decision here but don't forget it's not always about JUST his money - he personally knows a shitload of people who are going to lose their next 18 months' income without much recourse if he bails now, who aren't millionaires. Tour work is literally gig work.
Is he responsible for his obligations if the stadium refuses him? Sounds to me like he would have made an effort to meet his contract, but someone else refused him.
Honest question, I have no idea how these things work, but have a hard time believing Sheeran had no choice but to give in
Those same contractual obligations should apply to the stadium owners.
good thing the earth is so tiny and most of the universe completely misses this shit.
That was my thought exactly!
It seems like it's the venues that won't let Mackelmore play.
From the tour promoters.
People on Lemmy suck, Internet ... never change
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/sep/14/macklemore-dropped-ed-sheeran-tour-free-palestine
This Kraft dude seems like a stand-up guy.
In 2026, it was revealed that Kraft had kept a relationship with child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and that Epstein had recommended Kraft use his lawyer to defeat the charges.
source
Of course this Epstein class cunt is doing this shit
Sheeran has enough influence to change this, if he actually cared.
The fact that he hasn't shows that he doesn't. It's his tour, it's his decision.
I think Ed Sheeran is a big enough deal that the stadiums would lose out more than he would if he called their bluff, and they'd likely cave. They're not going to be able to book another artist for dates that soon that will sell comparable numbers of seats.
Ed should provide the same message at Kraft's stadium that Macklemore made.
they won't let you stay in the middle forever. it's not a safe pick they're trying to push everyone off the fence all the time it's a key element of extremism.
TIL Macklemore is based
Macklemore - HIND’S HALL (Free Palestine Song)
He always has been. Naturally, his one goofy song about thrifting is the one that went viral.
Eh Same Love also blew up from that album which, while woke, is also pretty corny. The album also famously won the Grammy over Kendrick Lamar so I'd say his other songs got their fair share of fame.
The Grammys being trash is nothing new and also not really Macklemore's fault
On the other hand, I've got no argument at all that a lot of his music is corny af, but even when he was at his most cringe he was still trying to be a good dude at least
For sure, I was just mentioning the Grammy thing in terms of popularity. And yeah it does seem like he puts his money where his mouth is on social issues.
WHEN I WAS IN THE THIRD GRADE, I THOUGHT I WAS GAY
I know it's just another big hit one but man I love how he just starts and doesn't stop in "Can't Hold Us."
That was the song of the summer the year it came out. Went pretty hard can’t lie.
Gonna have to change his stage name to Macklemost
He is, but also a really corny dude to the point where he gives right wing pundits someone to point and laugh at. I know he is genuine and wants to put eyeballs on issues, however he sometimes came off performative about it which turns people off unfortunately.
Ed Sheeran should drop out too, the article doesn't say it was his decision so he should show solidarity. Or Sheeran should do to his next show but show the same video Macklemore showed, then show it at every performance on tour
He likely couldn't without getting sued for a metric fuck ton of money. What he probably could do though is say free Palestine at his next show and see what happens.
Talk about being on the wrong side of history, Ed and Pink.
P!nk too?!?
Edit:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/pink-shares-post-attacking-macklemore-190803979.html
Well damn. I always loved Pink.
Fuck Sheeran. Rat-faced little bitch
Ed Sheeran can lick a chode. What a turd.
Nothing good ever happens after these words.
Cool. No clue who any of these guys are, but I'm with the macklemore guy. And no. I don't want to know more.
It's really upsetting when people equate human rights support with antisemitism.
Human rights support does not mean anti-Israel.
Being against genocide and being for human rights and supporting Israel's ability to defend itself against Hamas and also saying Israel is committing human rights violations are not logically inconsistent positions.
It does bother me when support for Gazans treads into the realm of antisemitism, that does sometimes happen, antisemitism is increasing and is awful, and also, there's no indication that I see that Macklemore was being antisemitic.
Pink mentioned in her response he once had a Same Love performance in which he was making fun of Jewish people. I haven't seen that, I can't find it online, and I don't know if seeing it would make a difference in my view of this.
That fucking molerat-faced coward.
If Pink’s reply (which seems thoughtful and balanced) is to be believed, it’s not due to support of Palestine as much as trotting out grotesque antisemitic caricatures and blaming all Jews for the Gaza genocide.
From the article:
“Blaming all Jews,” riiiiight.
Which is why there are pics of these caricatures and recordings of his "blaming all jews".
Right?
Here's a picture of the caricature
This was back in 2014 and the ADL accepted his apology for it. So he's at least had antisemitic moments. Does that mean he's blaming all Jews for the genocide? No.
The costume he put on with absolutely no other jewish or jewish adjacent context or even a little history of anti-semitism?
The one where after he wore it once, he was told by a bunch of jews 'hey that's a jew costume! Stop making fun of us!' To which he responded, ' Oh, shit, I never saw it like that. I can see where you could get that now. I'm sorry." Then he promoted the ADL, never wore it again, and never did anything "anti-semitic" again for over a decade? That is, until this "anti-Semitism" of saying 'israel should stop genociding people'?
That incident? That's the photo you're providing as proof?
Yes, that is the image I found when I searched "Macklemore Jewish Caricature". You aggressively asked for pictures of said caricature. I gave you a picture and provided the context that the ADL accepted his apology and I pointed out that it doesn't mean he blames all Jews for the genocide.
Why are you mad?
I mean it's pretty clearly irrelevant to the current topic
I watched the video of Macklemore, and he makes it crystal clear that criticism of apartheid and Israel is not criticism of judeism.
"Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you" - Macklemore's statement to his Jewish fans. Doesn't really sound like he's "blaming all Jews", at all.
Pink is succesfully minimizing and normalizing actual antisemitism with this garbage.
I don’t think I’d be using Pink as a source anymore. She’s been up there with Bibi for a while.
This literally didn’t happen. How do you live with such lies you tell? Does genocide make you happy?