Macklemore said Monday that he's been dropped from the remaining dates of Ed Sheeran's summer tour after stadium operators objected to his onstage support for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. In a social media statement, the rapper said multiple venues told tour promoter Messina Touring Group he would not be allowed to perform, prompting Sheeran's camp to remove him from the bill, the Washington Post reports. Macklemore claimed New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft helped coordinate pressure on stadiums to deliver an ultimatum: Keep Macklemore, lose the venues for Sheeran's shows.
Messina confirmed the cancellation in a statement to Rolling Stone, saying the stadiums' withdrawal would have ended the tour and affected "hundreds of thousands of fans." Kraft said in a statement to People that "This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians" but about comments Macklemore has made from the stage and "a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community." Sheeran has not publicly commented.
Pro-Israel groups, including the Israeli-American Council, had urged Sheeran to cut ties after Macklemore's remarks, while singer Pink amplified a post accusing the rapper of pushing "anti-Israel propaganda" on concertgoers. Macklemore said Sheeran's usually apolitical posture was tested but insisted the dispute won't end their friendship—or his activism. "I didn't need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2," he wrote. "Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say. Free Palestine."
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
