All of the opening acts for Ed Sheeran’s upcoming tour have dropped out after rapper Macklemore was booted from the lineup over his pro-Palestine comments.
The Loop Tour was originally set to feature not just Macklemore, but Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham and Finneas.
The traditional Irish band that was acting as Sheeran’s touring band, Beoga, also said they will no longer be part of the tour.
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Macklemore said in a statement on Tuesday that he was kicked off the tour after Robert Kraft — who owns the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium outside Boston, one of the scheduled stops on the tour — called Sheeran to say the rapper would not be allowed to perform in his venue.
“Ed also told me that Kraft has rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues,” Macklemore wrote.
Sheeran responded with a statement that shifted blame to his promoter.
“There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics – my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds,” he said. “Those who come to my shows don’t expect a political forum.”
He added, “I respect Macklemore’s strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes.”
Kraft confirmed he barred Macklemore from performing in his stadium.
“Gillette Stadium has a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests and ensuring that events held at our venue do not provide a platform for hate speech,” Kraft said in a statement. “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.”
How we got here
Macklemore has been outspoken about his support for Palestinians for years. In 2024 he released a song called “Hind’s Hall,” which refers to anti-war demonstrations at Columbia University, where protesters renamed a building after a Palestinian child killed by Israeli fire in Gaza.
When he appeared on Sheeran’s Loop Tour earlier this month at MetLife Stadium outside New York City, Macklemore showed images of the Israeli military in Gaza and called out, “Free Palestine!”
“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is 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 during the Sept. 4 show, according to Rolling Stone. “I said, ‘Free Palestine!’ I want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.”
Fear No Fact.
More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war broke out in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, according to the United Nations.
On Sept. 6, the Israeli American Council launched a petition demanding Macklemore be kicked off the rest of Sheeran’s tour. The petition said his comments raised questions over “where the line should be drawn when an opening act uses a global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda.”
What the other acts are saying
The other performers who dropped out of the Loop Tour supported Macklemore on social media.
“Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” Finneas said.
“I stand with Palestine and its people.” he added.
Aaron Rowe and Beoga, all from Ireland, likened what’s happening in Gaza to decades-long Catholic-Protestant fighting in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.
“As Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation,” Rowe said in his statement. “I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide and who highlight the savage murder of children.”
Beoga accused Kraft of actively working against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a Palestinian-led global campaign against Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Israel’s supporters say the campaign is antisemitic and advocates for the destruction of the Israeli state.
“It’s important that everyone knows that the real enemy is the zionist lobby,” Beoga wrote in a post on Instagram. “They have worked tirelessly to silence artists who want to speak freely about a genocide happening before our eyes, for fear of retribution.”
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