Macklemore has released an emotive statement after he claimed to have been “removed” from Ed Sheeran’s tour by the musician and his team.
It was reported yesterday that Macklemore had been dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour following a ‘Free Palestine’ speech he gave during a gig at the start of the month.
As per Variety, the American rapper, 43, will not appear for the remainder of Sheeran’s Loop Tour after he made headlines for saying “free Palestine” onstage during a concert at the start of September.
Macklemore, real name Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, gave a speech onstage at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey about Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying he wanted the Palestinians to know they had “not been forgotten”.
In his speech, the musician said: “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.”
“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.”
“I think every single human being that walks this Earth deserves the exact same freedom.”
He added: “So, I say: Free Palestine! I say, free America, free Cuba to the Congo to Sudan to Iran, and all the people in America who have to live in fear because of this organization, ICE.”
In response, a petition was set up by the Israeli-American Council to remove Macklemore from the tour.
A statement from the promoter of Sheeran’s tour, Messina Touring Group, was given to Rolling Stone.
It said: “As the concert promoter for Ed Sheeran’s U.S. Loop Tour, we have been notified by venues on the upcoming U.S. tour dates that they will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans.
“After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”
Now, the musician has hit back on social media, releasing a long statement in an Instagram post where he addressed the situation.
He wrote: “Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop Tour.
“I am not a victim, Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim.
“We get to go home to our families. The victims are the Palestinian people.”
He went on to add: “Ed is my friend, I’ve known him 13 years…I consider him a brother.
“And because of that, we’ve had some difficult conversations this past week. The type of talks rooted in love and respect for one another that still end in a place of fundamental disagreement.
“Nothing I write here is out of spite or because I want to tear down his character. But as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.
“Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him.
“We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium.
“Ed also told me that Kraft had 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.”
“Ed was in a f***** up position. He knew it. His typical political stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before. He told me that the words “Free Palestine” and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with.
“I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood. But he couldn’t get past his public facing, “I don’t take sides.”
Macklemore explained that “he gets why people don’t [take sides]”, citing loss of money, brand deals and shows, saying that he has “lost all of those things”.
“There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed,” he added.
He went on to question why a big deal had been made of his words now when he has been saying it “for three years”, highlighting the fact that he was now sharing a stage with a huge artist like Sheeran and that this could lead others to speak out too.
The musician also spoke about antisemitism, saying it had been “weaponised” as “one of the most effective ways to enforce silence”.
He said: “That is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state. When criticising Israel, opposing Zionism or saying “Free Palestine” gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn’t protect Jewish people, it protects Israel from accountability.
The rapper continued to say that he hoped it wasn’t the end of his relationship with Sheeran and that his door “will always be open”.
He concluded his statement: ” I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say – Free Palestine.
“But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on.”
Macklemore was set to perform at eight of the remaining tour dates on Sheeran’s tour.