Macklemore has been dropped from the remaining dates of Ed Sheeran’s U.S. Loop Tour after publicly calling for a “Free Palestine” during his opening set at MetLife Stadium last week. The rapper used the stadium stage to speak openly about the war in Gaza and his support for Palestinians, telling a crowd of more than 80,000 that he joined the tour to “stand up here on stages and stadiums across America” and say two words that are “very near and dear” to his heart: “Free Palestine.” He also performed “Hind’s Hall,” his pro-Palestinian track, during the set.
The remarks quickly sparked backlash, with the Israeli-American Council launching a petition calling for Macklemore to be removed from the tour and describing his performance as a “one-sided political agenda.” The Anti-Defamation League called his comments “completely unacceptable,” while Michael Rapaport also criticized the rapper publicly. Macklemore later shared his full speech on Instagram, writing that “equality should never be controversial” and defending his decision to use the platform to speak about Palestine. P!nk subsequently shared a post from StopAntisemitism criticizing Macklemore, which itself drew backlash. Neither Sheeran nor Live Nation has publicly commented on the controversy.
The situation ultimately reached the tour itself, when reports said that several venues on the remaining U.S. dates had told Messina Touring Group, the concert promoter behind Sheeran’s U.S. tour, that they would not allow Macklemore to perform. The promoter later confirmed that he would no longer appear on the remaining support dates, saying that keeping him on the lineup could jeopardize the wider tour and potentially lead to cancellations affecting hundreds of thousands of fans. In a statement shared on Instagram following the announcement, Macklemore pushed back on the framing of the controversy, writing that neither he, Sheeran, nor P!nk were the victims, and directing attention instead to Palestinians. “The victims are the Palestinian people,” he wrote, before closing with: “Free Palestine.”
