Macklemore Dropped From Ed Sheeran Tour After 'Free Palestine' Remarks, Blames Robert Kraft for Venue Pressure

Macklemore is out. The rapper, born Benjamin Haggerty, confirmed on Monday that Ed Sheeran's team removed him from the remaining U.S. dates of the Loop tour after weeks of backlash over his pro-Palestinian statements onstage.

It started September 4 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Macklemore told the crowd he wanted to use the tour's massive platform to say "Free Palestine," then performed his song "Hind's Hall" while footage of destruction in Gaza played on the jumbotron, according to the BBC. The song is named for Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed when Israeli forces fired on her family's car in Gaza City, The Independent reported.

The advocacy group StopAntisemitism blasted the performance immediately, saying fans "bought tickets to see Ed Sheeran sing... not to be ambushed by Macklemore's anti-Israel propaganda." The next night, Macklemore returned to the same stage and told the audience directly that criticism of Israel "is in no way a criticism" of Jewish people.

That didn't calm things down. The Israeli-American Council launched a petition demanding Sheeran drop him. The Anti-Defamation League weighed in too, according to the LA Times. Singer Pink reposted criticism of Macklemore's set, drawing her own backlash, and later wrote she wasn't demanding anyone be fired but that the moment "scared me," per Breitbart.

Messina Touring Group, the promoter, confirmed Monday that venues had told them flatly they would not host a show with Macklemore on the bill, "which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans." Breitbart, citing Rolling Stone, listed the seven remaining stadiums that had raised objections: Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner whose Kraft Group runs Gillette Stadium, went on the record. In a statement shared with multiple outlets including Fox News and Al Jazeera, Kraft said Gillette Stadium has "a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests" and that Macklemore's onstage material, plus what Kraft called "a broader history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery," crossed a line. Kraft added the decision "is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf," but said that advocacy "should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure the responsibility of Hamas."

Macklemore didn't take it quietly. In a nearly 1,000-word statement posted to Instagram and Facebook, he said Sheeran told him Kraft had called him personally and that Kraft "had rallied some of the other stadium owners" into giving Sheeran an ultimatum: drop Macklemore or lose access to their venues. Kraft, in his statement to Al Jazeera, did not directly address that specific allegation about contacting other owners.

Macklemore isn't wrong that artists have said far more inflammatory things onstage without getting bounced from a tour, and reasonable people can argue an opening act voicing a political opinion, even an unpopular one, isn't the same as inciting hatred. Free speech doesn't disappear because you're standing on a stage a promoter built. That's a fair point, and it's the crux of why some fans see this as corporate cowardice rather than principle.

But Kraft's stadium, his rules. Nobody has a constitutional right to a headlining slot on someone else's tour, and no venue owner is obligated to host a set they believe crosses into hate speech, particularly one accompanied by chants and imagery Kraft says has "a broader history" attached to it. Private businesses turning away controversial acts isn't censorship. It's a business decision, and Macklemore is still free to say whatever he wants on his own tour, on his own dime.

Macklemore also called the whole saga "the most successful tour I've ever been on," per the LA Times, arguing the controversy amplified his message more than quietly opening for Sheeran ever could. He explicitly said he, Sheeran, and Pink are "not victims," writing that Palestinians in Gaza are the only real victims here.

Ed Sheeran has said nothing publicly. No replacement act has been named for the remaining dates, which include the September 25 and 26 Gillette Stadium shows Kraft has now blocked outright. Whether other artists on the tour circuit take note, and whether Sheeran ever addresses the split himself, remains unanswered.