Macklemore dropped from Ed Sheeran tour after pro-Palestine remarks

Benjamin Haggerty, known professionally as Macklemore, opened two shows for Ed Sheeran's Loop tour at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in early September. On September 4th, he told the crowd that he had joined the tour specifically to stand in front of thousands of people and say two words: "Free Palestine." He then performed his song Hind's Hall, which criticizes Israel's military operations in Gaza, while footage of destruction in the territory played on the stadium screens. The next night, he returned to the same stage and addressed what he called his "Jewish brothers and sisters" in the audience, saying that criticism of Israel and opposition to genocide were not attacks on Jewish people themselves.

Within days, the backlash arrived in force. StopAntisemitism, a campaign group, condemned what it described as an ambush of Ed Sheeran's fans with anti-Israel messaging. The Israeli-American Council launched a petition calling on Sheeran to remove Macklemore from the tour, characterizing the concerts as political rallies rather than musical events. Robert Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, announced he would not allow Macklemore to perform at his venue, calling the rapper's remarks hate speech and pointing to what he characterized as a broader pattern of antisemitic rhetoric. Kraft acknowledged agreement with Macklemore on the human toll in Gaza—more than 73,780 people killed according to the territory's health ministry—but said selective information and silence about Hamas's actions only deepened division.

After a week of conversations with Sheeran that ended in what Macklemore described as fundamental disagreement, he was dropped from the tour. Messina Touring Group, the tour promoter, told Rolling Stone that multiple venues had informed the company they would not host Macklemore, a decision that threatened to cancel the entire tour and affect hundreds of thousands of fans. In a nearly 1,000-word statement posted to Instagram on Monday, Macklemore confirmed his removal and stood by his activism. He wrote that taking a political stance carries real costs—money, brand deals, sponsorships, festival appearances, private shows, relationships, and access—and that he had lost all of these things. He argued there is no neutral ground between the oppressor and the oppressed.

Macklemore addressed the accusations of antisemitism directly, writing that weaponizing such charges has become an effective tool for enforcing silence. He contended that when criticism of Israel, opposition to Zionism, or the phrase "Free Palestine" gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it does not protect Jewish people but rather shields Israel from accountability. Despite performing only two shows on the tour, he framed the experience as a success if it had redirected public attention back to Palestine. Ed Sheeran has not publicly commented on the controversy.

The dispute drew in other figures. Singer Pink, who is Jewish, reposted a message criticizing Macklemore and faced immediate backlash so severe that critics attacked aspects of her personal life and past comments about other female celebrities. She later posted a lengthy statement clarifying that she does not speak for Israel or any government. She criticized Macklemore's conduct, describing how he stood before a stadium of families, displayed violent war imagery, dedicated a song to his chosen cause, and then told Jewish attendees the performance was not about them. "You don't get to decide that for us," she wrote. Pink also referenced Macklemore's 2014 Grammy performance of his same-sex anthem Same Love, which featured a mass wedding of 33 LGBTQ+ couples on stage, but noted that later that same year he apologized for wearing a costume with a black wig, beard, and fake hooked nose that critics said was antisemitic.

The broader context frames the dispute. Israel says its military operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are acts of self-defense conducted in accordance with international law. The Israeli military launched its campaign in Gaza following a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. The death toll in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry—figures the UN considers reliable—now exceeds 73,780. Macklemore's removal from the tour reflects a collision between artistic expression, political activism, and the commercial and reputational pressures that venues and sponsors face when hosting performances that touch on contested geopolitical questions.