TLDR: “Free Palestine” statements made by Macklemore have cost him his remaining dates on Ed Sheeran’s tour, but Sheeran’s decision to cave to pressure from stadium owners has become a controversy of its own.
Macklemore has spent the better part of three years telling anyone willing to listen exactly where he stands on Palestine. He made “Hind’s Hall.” He marched. He spoke from stages around the world. He called for a ceasefire, condemned the killing of Palestinians and repeatedly separated his criticism of Israel from antisemitism.
So when Macklemore walked onto the stage during Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour, displayed Palestinian flags and shouted “Free Palestine,” this wasn’t some shocking political heel turn. Sheeran knew who he invited on tour.
Now Macklemore is gone. And while stadium owners may have applied the pressure, let’s not pretend Ed Sheeran was simply a passenger here.
According to Rolling Stone, several venues told promoter Messina Touring Group they would not host upcoming concerts with Macklemore on the bill. In a 12-slide statement posted Monday, Macklemore went further, claiming New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft rallied stadium owners around an ultimatum: keep Macklemore and lose the venues.
Kraft has since defended his position. In a statement reported by CBC, he accused Macklemore of sharing “selective information” while ignoring Hamas and said Gillette Stadium would not “provide a platform for hate speech.” Kraft said Macklemore’s recent performances, along with what he characterized as a history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery, crossed that line.
There’s an obvious problem with that characterization. At MetLife, Macklemore directly addressed Jewish fans, saying criticism of Israel and opposition to genocide “in no way is a criticism of you.” His message, he said, was about peace, dignity and equality.
Sheeran, meanwhile, had something Macklemore didn’t: enormous leverage.
This is Ed Sheeran we’re talking about. One of the biggest touring artists alive. If stadium owners really told him who was allowed to stand on his stage, he could have pushed back. He could have threatened to move the shows. He could have told fans exactly why their concerts were suddenly in jeopardy and watched how quickly the pressure shifted back onto the venues.
Instead, Macklemore got dropped.
Fans haven’t exactly been gentle about it. “Ed Sheeran is such a coward,” one Reddit commenter wrote. “Dropped his friend over saying Free Palestine and showing a Palestinian flag.” Another argued Sheeran “had more power than those stadiums” but instead “bent to the almighty dollar.” A third cut directly to the point: “Ed Sheeran and his team are spineless cowards, period.” One highly upvoted reaction simply declared, “Well that’s enough of Ed Sheeran for me.”
Then there’s Pink (often stylized as P!NK, but not here), who amplified criticism of Macklemore from StopAntisemitism before later clarifying she wasn’t asking for him to be fired. That’s the same Pink who once confronted George W. Bush over war and human suffering on “Dear Mr. President,” famously asking, “How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?” Apparently protest music becomes more complicated when you disagree with the protest.
Macklemore has been remarkably gracious toward Sheeran throughout all of this, calling him a friend and acknowledging the impossible position the stadium ultimatum created. But friendship didn’t stop Macklemore from identifying the flaw in Sheeran’s insistence that he doesn’t take sides.
Because when powerful people demand that you silence someone and you comply, you’ve taken a side.
The stadium owners made their choice. Macklemore made his. And whether he wants to call it one or not, Sheeran made his too.
Read Macklemore’s complete 12-slide statement on the controversy below.
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