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Should an artist be removed from a concert lineup due to a divisive political performance?
Yesterday, Macklemore was officially cancelled from Ed Sheeran’s tour stop at Lincoln Financial Field this Saturday. During his set on the tour at MetLife earlier this month, the artist performed the 2024 protest song “Hind’s Hall,” a pro-palestinian anthem. He also chanted “Free Palestine,” with the crowd while images depicting the war in Gaza appeared on screen.
“[Ed Sheeran] told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flags were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with,” Macklemore wrote in a statement. “I told him that if those words were more offensive than the 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.”
Macklemore’s performance has sparked heated online debate on how political artists should be on stage. This afternoon, four other supporting acts opening for Sheeran’s tour have dropped out of the concert — Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga, the Danish band Lukas Graham and Finneas.
Messina Touring Group, promoter of the U.S. leg of Sheeran’s “Loop Tour,” told Rolling Stone in a statement that venues warned their team not to “allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup” and doing so 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,” the group said.
“Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,” Sheeran wrote on Instagram this morning. “I would never let down the fans who had made plans, nor would I abandon the touring crew and the other support acts and musicians who rely on me for work and to make a living.”
The organization Jewish Voice for Peace Philadelphia told Billy Penn that it “applauds Macklemore for speaking out loudly and clearly for Palestinian freedom.”
“The Israeli military has waged a genocide in Gaza for nearly three years. Despite the so-called ‘ceasefire,’ the genocide is ongoing,” JVP said. “And while Gaza slips from the headlines it is essential that we continue to draw attention to Palestine wherever we can, and it is especially essential that those with large followings like politicians and celebrities continue to speak out.”
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said it stands with the decision to remove Macklemore from the tour.
“This is not about silencing political views,” Jason Holtzman, chief of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia told Billy Penn in a statement.
“It is about recognizing the difference between expressing a viewpoint and turning a family concert into a platform for inflammatory political rhetoric and imagery that left Jewish attendees feeling targeted and unwelcome.”
Pop star and Doylestown native Pink, who is Jewish, weighed in on the controversy, after resharing an Instagram post critical of Macklemore’s performance.
While the singer noted that she supports the Palestinian people, she did not agree with Macklemore’s set, writing, “he stood in front of a stadium full of music-loving families, with violent images from a war on the screens, dedicated a song to the movement of his choice, and then took the mic to tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them. You don’t get to decide that for us.”
Holtzman also pointed to a 2014 incident, in which Macklemore wore a large hooked prosthetic nose, dark wig and beard onstage — in other words “imagery widely recognized as an antisemitic caricature.”
“Given that history, the Jewish community has every reason to take seriously the impact of his rhetoric and conduct today,” Holtzman said.
Still, Jewish Voice for Peace emphasized that if stadiums are concerned about anti-semetic rhetoric, Macklemore is not who they should be focused on — pointing the finger instead at artists like Kanye West.
“While Macklemore is punished for pro-Palestinian speech and prohibited from performing in certain stadiums, artists who self-identify as Nazis and have songs entitled ‘Heil Hiter’ are permitted to perform in these very same stadiums,” the organization said.
“The double-standard couldn’t be more clear: The cancellation of Macklemore has nothing to do with Jewish safety. Instead, it is about silencing and punishing those who speak out for the rights and freedom of Palestinians.”
West has performed in major stadiums, such as SoFi and Soldier Field, since the release of his song “Heil Hitler.” He has not appeared to have performed the song live at such venues.
Holtzman said despite where one stands politically on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an Ed Sheeran concert should be a “welcoming, family-friendly and inclusive experience for everyone who buys a ticket,” and not an “environment in which members of one community feel singled out or unwelcome.”
Sheeran stated that he is “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine on social media.” However, he hopes to keep his concerts apolitical.
“There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics — my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds,” Sheeran said. “Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum.”
In his social media post, Macklemore noted that he considered Sheeran a brother and he hoped this “painful disagreement” would not ruin a 13 year friendship.
“What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years,” Macklemore wrote. “So why is it an issue now? Because now I’m sharing a stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stadiums in America.”
Whether news of Macklemore’s removal from the tour could draw protests at Lincoln Financial Field this Saturday remains to be determined. The stadium has not yet announced if there will be a replacement for the opening performers.
