Acts abandon Ed Sheeran tour after Macklemore barred over ‘Free Palestine’ comments

Arnaud Finistre/AFP via Getty Images

Ed Sheeran’s international tour has been thrown into crisis, with one opening act, the rapper Macklemore, dropped from the tour’s US dates for his onstage support of Palestine, and all of the British singer’s other openers quitting to protest the removal.

On Monday, Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, said he would bar Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts this month. Macklemore, who made pro-Palestinian remarks during shows in New Jersey, said he had been removed from the rest of Sheeran’s American tour as well.

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

On Tuesday, Finneas, a producer who is also Billie Eilish’s brother, the Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, the Irish band Beoga and the Danish band Lukas Graham all withdrew from their opening slots on the tour, expressing support for both Macklemore and the Palestinian people.

Macklemore, a rapper best known for 2012’s “Thrift Shop,” has publicly advocated for Palestinian rights since Israel began its years-long bombing campaign in Gaza after the October 7 attacks. Opening for Sheeran earlier this month at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the rapper wore a black-and-white keffiyeh tied around his neck.

“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place, was so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine,” he said, according to video of the event. He added that “to all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.”

Macklemore has regularly performed at pro-Palestinian rallies since 2023. In 2024, he released “Hind’s Hall,” named after the building taken over by Columbia student protesters, who renamed it in honor of Hind Rajab , a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

His comments at Sheeran’s show prompted criticism from the singer Pink and a petition against his appearances. On Monday, Macklemore announced on Instagram he’d been dropped from Sheeran’s remaining US tour dates.

Macklemore has pointed the blame squarely at Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium, where Sheeran and Macklemore were scheduled to perform later this month. Kraft, Macklemore said, had “rallied some of the other stadium owners” and given Sheeran an ultimatum: “if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”

Kraft, an advocate for Israel who withdrew funding for Columbia University to rebuke the school for its handling of protests against the war in Gaza, confirmed that he chose to cancel Macklemore’s performances at Gillette Stadium. He didn’t address Macklemore’s claims that he had “rallied” other stadium owners, and did not respond to requests for more information.

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“Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line,” Kraft said in a statement.

“This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf,” he went on. “Too many lives have been lost and there has been too much suffering, but only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only advances more divisiveness and hate.”

Sheeran placed the blame on the concert promoter, who he said forced his hand. “After Macklemore’s performances at my New Jersey shows, venues on my upcoming tour dates communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting,” he said on Instagram Tuesday. “Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine.” The promoter didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Legally, under the First Amendment, Kraft and other people who privately own stadiums have the right to choose who performs at their venues, said Lee Rowland, the executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship. But “that doesn’t mean that that’s healthy for our democracy or good for free expression,” Rowland said.

Rowland said the cancellation of Macklemore’s tour dates “illustrates the immense power that money has over our public discourse.”

Macklemore was scheduled to open for Sheeran at seven more stadiums in the US. Several of those are publicly owned. The remaining venues did not respond to requests for comment.

Among them is AT&T Stadium, which is owned by the city of Arlington, Texas. AT&T Stadium is scheduled to host a sold-out show later this year by Ye, who made a spate of antisemitic comments that he now attributes to a brain injury and untreated bipolar disorder, and who is selling out shows in the US.

In 2014, Macklemore publicly apologized for performing while wearing a hooked false nose, wig and fake beard, which he called a “random costume” but which observers widely read as an antisemitic caricature. Kraft did not respond to a question about whether he was referring to that incident or to something else when he accused Macklemore of past antisemitism.

The Macklemore cancellation will likely have a chilling effect on other artists, Rowland said.

“We are undoubtedly going to see widespread self-censorship, so that artists ensure their content is uncontroversial and anodyne enough not to offend a promoter or a stadium owner that would then deprive the audience of their performance.”

In his statement, Sheeran, one of the world’s best-selling and most-streamed artists, said he was “not complicit” and defended his silence around “the conflict between Israel and Palestine.”

“I have my personal views on this devastating conflict,” he said. “Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn’t mean I don’t have them, and it doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

The children’s entertainer and advocate Ms. Rachel, who has been a leading humanitarian critic of the war in Gaza, called Sheeran out for his public neutrality, writing on Instagram , “Ed Sheeran is making a political statement to his fans when he does a concert to support Ukraine, but considers Palestine too dangerous and political.”

Beyond his fellow tour members quitting in protest, Macklemore received nods of support from Reps. Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal and the musicians Zara Larsson and PinkPantheress.

In his statement, Macklemore sought to refocus attention on Gaza, where more than 70,000 people — many of them women and children — have been killed.

Sheeran “told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with,” Macklemore said.

“I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood.”

阿诺·菲尼斯特/法新社，盖蒂图片社

艾德·希兰的国际巡演陷入危机，其中一位开场嘉宾，说唱歌手麦克莫尔，因在舞台上支持巴勒斯坦而被取消了美国站的演出资格，而这位英国歌手的其他所有开场嘉宾也都退出了巡演，以抗议这一取消决定。

周一，新英格兰爱国者队的亿万富翁老板罗伯特·克拉夫特表示，他将禁止麦克莫尔本月在马萨诸塞州吉列体育场演出。麦克莫尔曾在新泽西州的演出中发表过支持巴勒斯坦的言论，他表示自己也被艾德·希兰从美国巡演的剩余场次中除名。

Jordan Strauss/Invision/美联社

周二，制作人菲尼亚斯（同时也是比莉·艾利什的哥哥）、爱尔兰创作歌手亚伦·罗、爱尔兰乐队Beoga和丹麦乐队Lukas Graham都退出了巡演的开场演出，以示对麦克莫尔和巴勒斯坦人民的支持。

以2012年歌曲《Thrift Shop》而闻名的说唱歌手Macklemore，自以色列在10月7日袭击事件后开始对加沙地带进行长达数年的轰炸以来，一直公开支持巴勒斯坦人民的权利。本月初，他在新泽西州大都会人寿体育场为Ed Sheeran的演唱会开场时，脖子上系着一条黑白相间的阿拉伯头巾。

“我最初想做这次巡回演讲，很大一部分原因就是想站在这样的体育场里，说出两个对我而言无比珍贵的字眼：自由巴勒斯坦，”他在活动视频中说道。他还补充道：“致我所有的犹太兄弟姐妹，批评以色列、批评种族隔离、反对种族灭绝，绝不是在批评你们。”

自 2023 年以来，Macklemore 经常在支持巴勒斯坦的集会上表演。2024 年，他发行了歌曲《Hind's Hall》，这首歌以哥伦比亚大学学生抗议者占领的建筑物命名，抗议者将其重新命名为 Hind's Hall，以纪念在加沙被以色列士兵杀害的 5 岁巴勒斯坦女孩 Hind Rajab。

他在希兰演唱会上的言论引发了歌手Pink的批评，并导致有人发起请愿反对他继续演出。周一，麦克莫尔在Instagram上宣布，他已被希兰从剩余的美国巡演行程中除名。

Macklemore将矛头直指吉列体育场的所有者Kraft，Ed Sheeran和Macklemore原定于本月晚些时候在那里演出。Macklemore表示，Kraft“联合了其他一些体育场馆的所有者”，并向Sheeran发出最后通牒：“如果Macklemore继续参加巡演，你就不能在我们的场馆演出。”

曾因哥伦比亚大学处理加沙战争抗议活动的方式而撤回对哥伦比亚大学的资助，并以此谴责该校的以色列支持者克拉夫特证实，他​​决定取消麦克莫尔在吉列体育场的演出。对于麦克莫尔声称他“动员”了其他体育场馆老板的说法，克拉夫特没有回应，也没有回复记者的置评请求。

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartRadio

“鉴于 Macklemore 近期的行为，他在新泽西州 Ed Sheeran 演唱会上分享的舞台素材，以及他过往的反犹太言论和图像（我们认为这些言论和图像对犹太社区造成了极大的冒犯和伤害），我们认定他参加 9 月 25 日和 26 日在吉列体育场举行的演唱会将越过这条底线，”克拉夫特在一份声明中表示。

他继续说道：“这项决定并非意在淡化无辜巴勒斯坦人的苦难，也并非剥夺任何人代表他们发声的权利。太多生命逝去，太多苦难降临，但只选择性地传播信息，对哈马斯的行动视而不见，既不诚实，也只会加剧分裂和仇恨。”

希兰将责任归咎于演唱会主办方，称是主办方逼他取消了演出。“在麦克莫尔在我新泽西的演出之后，我接下来巡演的场馆就通知我，如果他继续担任暖场嘉宾，他们就会取消演出，”他周二在Instagram上写道。“麦克莫尔退出巡演是主办方的决定，不是我的。”主办方没有回应置评请求。

全国反审查联盟执行主任李·罗兰表示，从法律角度讲，根据美国宪法第一修正案，克拉夫特和其他拥有体育场馆的私人业主有权选择在其场馆演出的艺人。但罗兰也指出，“这并不意味着这对我们的民主有益，或者有利于言论自由。”

罗兰表示，麦克莫尔巡演日期的取消“说明了金钱对我们的公共话语有着巨大的影响力”。

Macklemore原定在美国另外七个体育场为Ed Sheeran的演唱会担任开场嘉宾。其中几个体育场为公有体育场。其余场馆未对此事作出回应。

其中包括AT&T体育场，该体育场归德克萨斯州阿灵顿市所有。今年晚些时候，Ye将在AT&T体育场举办一场门票售罄的演唱会。Ye曾发表过一系列反犹太言论，他现在将这些言论归咎于脑损伤和未经治疗的双相情感障碍，但他在美国的演唱会依然场场爆满。

2014年，麦克莫尔公开道歉，承认自己曾戴着鹰钩鼻、假发和假胡子进行表演。他称这只是“随意的装扮”，但许多观察人士认为这是反犹太主义的讽刺。克拉夫特在指责麦克莫尔过去有反犹太主义倾向时，并未回应他指的是此事还是其他事件。

罗兰表示，Macklemore的演出取消可能会对其他艺人产生寒蝉效应。

“毫无疑问，我们将看到普遍的自我审查，以便艺术家们确保他们的作品内容不具争议性且足够温和，不会冒犯演出商或体育场所有者，从而剥夺观众的演出机会。”

希兰是世界上最畅销、播放量最高的艺术家之一，他在声明中表示，他“并非同谋”，并为自己对“以色列和巴勒斯坦之间的冲突”保持沉默辩护。

“我对这场毁灭性的冲突有我个人的看法，”他说。“仅仅因为我选择不公开谈论此事，并不意味着我没有自己的看法，也不意味着我不关心此事。”

儿童娱乐表演者和倡导者瑞秋女士一直是加沙战争的主要人道主义批评者，她公开批评希兰保持中立，并在 Instagram 上写道：“艾德·希兰举办演唱会支持乌克兰，却认为巴勒斯坦问题太危险、太政治化，这是在向他的粉丝发表政治声明。”

除了巡演伙伴们愤而退出外，Macklemore 还得到了众议员 Ilhan Omar 和 Pramila Jayapal 以及音乐人 Zara Larsson 和 PinkPantheress 的支持。

Macklemore 在声明中试图将人们的注意力重新集中到加沙，那里已有超过 7 万人丧生，其中许多是妇女和儿童。

Macklemore说：“希兰告诉我，‘解放巴勒斯坦’这句话和巴勒斯坦国旗的图案伤害了他接触过的很多人。”

“我告诉他，如果这些话比以色列杀害数万名巴勒斯坦儿童更令人反感，那么这些人与我的立场就存在根本性的脱节。”