A promoter says that venues on future U.S. tour dates will not allow a show to go on with Macklemore on the bill.

Rapper Macklemore is a vocal supporter of Palestine and Gaza residents. During a recent concert at MetLife Stadium, he yelled “Free Palestine!” onstage, projected images of devastation in the area, and performed protest song “Hind’s Hall.”

Now, it seems that American venues are not willing to play ball with the Seattle artist, and he has been dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour.

“After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates,” according to Messina Touring Group, the promoter of Loop Tour. This news follows backlash from organizations like StopAntisemitism and others, such as pop star Pink.

  • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
    27·
    1 hour ago

    According to Macklemore, Sheeran was told by venues to cut him, or cancel the whole tour. Sheeran tries to remain non-political as part of his brand. But it really feels like we’re up against the sad point where, if just saying “don’t genocide people” makes you “political”, then refusing to be political makes you a piece of shit.

    I think a lot of artists are still riding this line between staying safe and potentially nuking their entire career. I won’t act like that’s an easy decision for anyone to make, but obviously looking from the outside it’s easy to see what the right decision is.

    Time will tell. There’s still time for Ed to walk out on stage at his biggest show of the tour, throw a fist in the air, and say Free Palestine. I’ve had zero thoughts about him up until this point, but that would at least give me one shred of respect for him.