Ed Sheeran’s international tour has entered a crisis: one of the opening acts, rapper Macklemore, was removed from the U.S. tour dates for expressing his support for Palestine from the stage, and all the other artists opening for the British singer resigned in protest of the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, said he would prevent Macklemore from performing this month at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts. Macklemore, who made pro-Palestinian comments during concerts in New Jersey, reported that he was also removed from the rest of Sheeran’s U.S. tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, Finneas, producer and brother of Billie Eilish; Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe; the Irish band Beoga, and the Danish band Lukas Graham withdrew from their performances as opening acts on the tour and expressed their support for both Macklemore and the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Macklemore, a rapper known primarily for 2012’s \u201cThrift Shop,\u201d has publicly defended Palestinian rights since Israel began its years-long bombing campaign in Gaza following the October 7 attacks. While opening for Sheeran earlier this month at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the rapper wore a keffiyeh<\/a> in black and white tied around his neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour from the beginning was to be able to get up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very close to my heart: Free Palestine,\u201d he stated, according to a video of the event<\/a>. He added that \u201cto all my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticizing Israel, criticizing apartheid, and being against genocide is in no way a criticism of you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Macklemore has performed regularly at pro-Palestinian demonstrations since 2023. In 2024, he released \u201cHind\u2019s Hall,\u201d named after the building occupied by student protesters at Columbia University, who renamed it in honor of Hind Rajab<\/a>, a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\nError al procesar la solicitud de traducci\u00f3n\n\n\n Macklemore held Kraft, the owner of Gillette Stadium, where Sheeran and Macklemore were scheduled to perform later this month, directly responsible. According to Macklemore, Kraft had \u201cmobilized some of the other stadium owners\u201d and given Sheeran an ultimatum: \u201cIf Macklemore is still on the tour, you won\u2019t be allowed to play at our venues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kraft, a defender of Israel who withdrew his funding from Columbia University<\/a> as a rebuke for how the institution handled the protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, confirmed that he decided to cancel Macklemore’s performances at Gillette Stadium. He did not address Macklemore’s claims that he had “reached out” to other stadium owners and did not respond to requests for further information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBased on Macklemore\u2019s recent actions, the content disseminated from the stage during Ed Sheeran\u2019s concerts in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we find deeply offensive and painful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25 and 26 concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line,\u201d Kraft said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis decision does not seek to minimize the suffering of innocent Palestinians nor deny anyone the right to defend them,\u201d he continued. \u201cToo many lives have been lost and there has been too much suffering, but sharing only selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only fosters more division and hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheeran blamed the concert promoter, who, he said, forced him to make that decision. \u201cAfter Macklemore\u2019s performances at my New Jersey concerts, the venues for the upcoming dates of my tour communicated that they would cancel the concerts if he remained as the opening act,\u201d he stated on Instagram on Tuesday. \u201cMacklemore\u2019s departure from the tour was the promoter\u2019s decision, not mine.\u201d The promoter did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will it set a precedent?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Legally, under the First Amendment, Kraft and others who are private owners of stadiums have the right to choose who performs at their venues, said Lee Rowland, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship. But \u201cthat doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s healthy for our democracy or good for free speech,\u201d Rowland stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rowland indicated that the cancellation of Macklemore’s tour dates \u201cillustrates the immense power that money has over our public discourse\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Macklemore was scheduled to be Sheeran’s opening act at seven other U.S. stadiums. Several of them are publicly owned. The other venues did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among them is AT&T Stadium, owned by the city of Arlington, Texas. AT&T Stadium is scheduled to host a sold-out Ye concert later this year. The artist made a series of antisemitic comments<\/a> that he now attributes to a brain injury and untreated bipolar disorder, and he is selling out his concerts in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n