Gaza advocate Macklemore removed from Ed Sheeran tour
Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran’s American tour dates after venue opposition to his Palestine advocacy.
As at least 21,700 children in Gaza have been reported killed, Macklemore has been removed from Ed Sheeran’s remaining American tour dates after stadiums objected to his Palestine advocacy.
Ed Sheeran said on 15 September that the decision was made by promoter Messina Touring Group after venues said they would cancel shows if Macklemore remained on the bill. “Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,” Sheeran said in an Instagram statement.
Stadium power decides the bill
The dispute began after Macklemore appeared at Sheeran’s MetLife Stadium shows in New Jersey on 4 and 5 September. He performed Hind’s Hall, his 2024 song named for Hind Rajab, the Palestinian child killed in Gaza in 2024, and shouted: “Free Palestine”.
In a 14 September statement, Macklemore said venue pressure had made him unacceptable to the tour promoter. He said that, at major-stadium level, “Free Palestine” had become too great a commercial risk.
Messina confirmed that venues had said they would not host a concert with Macklemore on the line-up, according to AP. The promoter said cancellation would affect hundreds of thousands of ticket-holders and touring workers.
Kraft confirms Gillette ban
Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots, confirmed that Macklemore would not appear at Sheeran’s 25 and 26 September shows there. Kraft has long publicly backed Israel and said in 2019 that, after his family, nothing mattered more to him than Israel and his Jewish identity.
Macklemore alleged that Kraft had rallied other stadium owners behind an ultimatum to Sheeran. That wider claim has not been publicly documented: the evidence confirms Kraft’s Gillette exclusion and opposition from multiple venues, but not which owners acted together or what they discussed.
Kraft said his decision concerned Macklemore’s recent stage material and what he described as a history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery. He said it was not intended to deny anyone the right to advocate for Palestinians. His statement did not itemise those allegations, so they cannot be treated as established fact.
Four acts pull out
The result is that Macklemore loses eight of the tour’s remaining 10 support slots, while the Gaza suffering he tried to put before stadium audiences continues. UNICEF reports 45,000 Gaza children injured and 1.3 million people displaced, alongside the reported child death toll.
Finneas, Beoga, Aaron Rowe and Lukas Graham have since withdrawn from the tour in solidarity. “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” Finneas said, according to AP.
