Macklemore dropped from U.S. leg of Ed Sheeran's tour after pro-Palestinian statements
American rapper Macklemore will no longer perform as an opening act at the remaining Ed Sheeran concerts in the United States as part of the "Loop" tour. The decision was confirmed on September 14, about ten days after he repeatedly voiced public support for Palestinians during a performance at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, shouted "Free Palestine" and showed footage from Gaza on stage. Macklemore later said that certain stadium owners and operators had refused to host the concerts if he remained part of the lineup, and his basic claim that venues had applied pressure was also confirmed by the promoter of the U.S. leg of the tour, Messina Touring Group.
According to a statement from the promoter reported by Rolling Stone and other music media, organizers were informed by several venues on the upcoming U.S. dates that the concert could not take place if Macklemore remained on the lineup. Messina Touring Group said that such a development could lead to the cancellation of a series of stadium shows and affect hundreds of thousands of attendees. After discussions with the parties involved, a decision was made that the rapper would not perform on the remaining dates for which he had been announced as an opening act.
The change is already visible in the official tour schedule. On Sheeran's website, as of September 15, Macklemore is no longer listed for the U.S. stadium concerts, while Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe remain listed as support acts. Under the previous schedule, Macklemore was due to perform at eight of the ten remaining U.S. concerts, including dates in Philadelphia, Foxborough, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Arlington and Tampa. Two concerts in Hollywood, Florida, at the end of October had not been among his announced appearances from the outset.
What Macklemore said at MetLife Stadium
The controversy began during Sheeran's concerts on September 4 and 5 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Macklemore spoke during his set about the war in Gaza and the situation of Palestinians, telling the audience that he wanted people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to know they had not been forgotten. In his speech, he emphasized that one of the reasons he had agreed to perform in large stadiums was precisely the opportunity to say "Free Palestine" in front of tens of thousands of people.
During the performance of "Hind's Hall", the protest song he released in 2024, images of destruction in Gaza and footage of pro-Palestinian student protests in the United States were shown on the large screens. The song's title is connected to protests at Columbia University, where activists unofficially renamed the occupied Hamilton Hall building in honor of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza in 2024. Macklemore had already publicly taken a strongly pro-Palestinian position, but appearing as part of one of the largest stadium tours in the U.S. exposed his political message to a much broader audience.
After the first performance, criticism followed from several Jewish and pro-Israel organizations. The Israeli-American Council launched a petition calling on Sheeran to remove Macklemore from the remainder of the tour, arguing that the opening act had used a major concert event to deliver a one-sided political message. The performance was also criticized by StopAntisemitism and the Anti-Defamation League. On the other hand, some audience members and other musicians defended Macklemore's right to express political views on stage.
During the second performance at MetLife Stadium, Macklemore further clarified his message. He addressed Jewish members of the audience and argued that criticism of the Israeli government, Israeli policies and what he describes as apartheid and genocide is not criticism of Jews as a people or religious community. He described his message as a call for peace, equality and the dignity of all people. In doing so, he tried to draw a clear distinction between his views on the actions of the State of Israel and antisemitism, but the dispute over the way the message had been delivered continued to spread.
Macklemore called out Robert Kraft, Kraft confirmed ban at Gillette Stadium
In a lengthy post after confirmation that he was leaving the tour, Macklemore specifically singled out Robert Kraft, owner of the NFL team New England Patriots and founder of Kraft Group. Kraft's company owns Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Sheeran has two concerts on September 25 and 26. The rapper claims that Sheeran told him Kraft had personally contacted him and said that Macklemore would not be allowed to perform at the stadium. Macklemore also claims that Kraft encouraged other stadium owners to take the same position.
That part of the story needs to be separated into what has been confirmed and what remains Macklemore's claim. Messina Touring Group confirmed that several venues had refused to host the shows while the rapper remained on the lineup, but the promoter's publicly available statement does not confirm details about who coordinated their decisions. Pitchfork and Rolling Stone reported that the venues opposing Macklemore's participation included 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, Texas, and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
Kraft, however, publicly confirmed that Macklemore would not perform at the two concerts at Gillette Stadium. In a statement reported by Billboard and other U.S. media, he said that the stadium strives to provide a welcoming environment for all guests and does not want to give a platform at its events to hate speech. Kraft described Macklemore's recent performances, the material shown on stage and what he characterized as a broader pattern of antisemitic rhetoric and symbolism as deeply offensive to the Jewish community, and said that his participation in the concerts would cross a line the stadium considers acceptable.
At the same time, Kraft emphasized that he was not presenting the decision as a denial of Palestinian suffering or as a ban on advocating for Palestinian rights. He argued that such advocacy should not be carried out in a way that, in his view, harms the Jewish community or ignores Hamas's responsibility for attacks and violence. Kraft, who founded the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in 2019, also offered the possibility of a conversation with Macklemore. In doing so, he confirmed a key part of the rapper's account concerning Gillette Stadium, but not all of his claims about alleged coordination with other stadium owners.
Sheeran's schedule changed, tour continues without Macklemore
Ed Sheeran's official website now lists Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe as support acts for the September 19 concert at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, with no Macklemore. The same applies to the two concerts at Gillette Stadium on September 25 and 26, as well as the shows in Atlanta on October 3, Indianapolis on October 10, Charlotte on October 17, Arlington on October 24 and Tampa on November 7. The official Gillette Stadium website also lists only Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe as guests.
The U.S. leg of the "Loop" tour is therefore continuing without a change to the headlining artist and with no announced cancellation of the listed concerts. For organizers, this is also important because of the scale of the tour: the shows are taking place at large stadiums used by the American professional football league, the NFL, with capacities of tens of thousands of spectators. Messina Touring Group specifically cited the potential impact on hundreds of thousands of attendees as the reason the lineup was changed after warnings from the venues.
As of September 15, Sheeran had not publicly commented in detail on the political content of Macklemore's performances or on his own conversations with him. Most information about their private communication comes from Macklemore's post. The rapper said they had spoken several times and that there was genuine disagreement between them over the political message and the consequences of delivering it on Sheeran's tour. Despite that, he said he did not want to reduce their long-standing relationship to a single dispute and that he still considers Sheeran a friend.
Their professional and personal connection has lasted for more than a decade. At a concert in Seattle in 2023, Sheeran introduced Macklemore as a local artist he had long respected and had been friends with for about ten years, after which they performed "Can't Hold Us" together. Precisely because of that history, Macklemore emphasized in his latest statement that he takes responsibility for his own decision to speak about Palestine, but also believes that pressure from major concert venues left Sheeran facing a choice between continuing the tour in its planned form and keeping him as an opening act.
Pink joined the debate and then clarified her position
The debate gained additional visibility after singer Pink shared a post by StopAntisemitism criticizing Macklemore's performance. Following negative reactions on social media, Pink posted a more extensive clarification. According to her, sharing someone else's post did not fully represent all of her views, and she particularly emphasized that she was not calling for Macklemore to be fired and was not opposed to the message "Free Palestine" itself.
Pink, who also spoke about her own Jewish identity, argued that certain aspects of Macklemore's performance and the broader context create fear among some Jewish audience members and that such a reaction should not automatically be dismissed. At the same time, she expressed support for humane treatment of Palestinians and their legitimate aspirations, condemned Hamas and said that protecting civilians must remain a priority. Her clarification demonstrated how sensitive public debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have become in American pop culture, particularly when political messages are delivered to an audience that did not come to a political event.
Macklemore responded to the criticism by arguing that artists with large platforms cannot speak about their own discomfort while simultaneously ignoring the suffering of civilians in Gaza. In his post, he rejected the idea that he, Pink or Sheeran should be portrayed as victims of this controversy, emphasizing that all of them have successful careers, security and access to large audiences. His argument is that Palestinians affected by the war should remain at the center of the debate, rather than the professional consequences famous musicians face because of their public positions.
From a protest song to a dispute over America's biggest stages
Macklemore's removal from the tour shows how quickly an artist's political speech can turn into a business and reputational issue when concerts at the largest U.S. stadiums are involved. In this case, it is not merely about criticism on social media or a petition by one organization. The promoter directly stated that venues were prepared to refuse to host events with Macklemore on the lineup, giving the dispute immediate financial and logistical consequences for the tour.
At the same time, the case opens a debate about the boundary between artistic and political performance. Macklemore believes that abandoning a political message for the sake of his own professional security would run counter to the role he wants to have as an artist. Organizations that called for his removal argue that the audience bought tickets for an Ed Sheeran concert, not a political rally, and that the opening act used that platform for a message with which some attendees strongly disagree. Stadium owners and the promoter, on the other hand, explain the decision as an obligation to keep the events going and avoid a situation in which the entire tour could be canceled.
For now, there are no indications that Macklemore will be reinstated for the U.S. dates. The official schedule for Sheeran's tour has already been changed, and Gillette Stadium publicly lists only Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe as support acts for the concerts at the end of September. Macklemore, however, is not withdrawing his statements and says he will continue to speak publicly about Palestine. Thus, although the organizational dispute has been resolved by removing one opening act, it continues as a broader debate about musicians' political activism, antisemitism, criticism of Israeli policy and the power of major concert venues to decide who may perform on their stages.
Sources:
- Rolling Stone - confirmation from Messina Touring Group about Macklemore's removal and pressure from U.S. concert venues (link)
- Pitchfork - details of Macklemore's statement, claims concerning Robert Kraft and a list of stadiums that opposed his appearance (link)
- Ed Sheeran, official website - current schedule of U.S. concerts and revised list of support acts (link)
- Gillette Stadium - official information for the September 25 and 26 concerts and the current list of support acts (link)
- The Guardian - content of Macklemore's speeches at MetLife Stadium, reactions from organizations and the context of the song "Hind's Hall" (link)
- Billboard - Robert Kraft's statement on the decision not to allow Macklemore to perform at Gillette Stadium (link)
- Entertainment Weekly - Macklemore's reaction to being removed from the tour and additional clarification of his position (link)
- Los Angeles Times - reactions from the Israeli-American Council and Anti-Defamation League after the New Jersey performance (link)