Rapper Macklemore has been dropped from the remaining U.S. dates of Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour after sparking controversy by declaring “Free Palestine” and delivering a political speech during a stadium performance in New Jersey earlier this month.
Messina Touring Group, which promotes the U.S. leg of Sheeran’s tour, said venues scheduled to host upcoming shows had informed organizers that they would not allow concerts to proceed with Macklemore on the lineup.
“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,” the company said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “This would have resulted in the cancellation of the tour and impacted hundreds of thousands of fans. After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”
The rapper had been scheduled to appear at eight of the 10 remaining shows on Sheeran’s stadium tour, which is set to resume Sept. 19 in Philadelphia. Variety said it contacted representatives for both Macklemore and Sheeran for comment but had not received a response.
The decision follows controversy over Macklemore’s politically charged performance Sept. 4, which prompted an online petition calling on Sheeran to remove him from the rest of the tour.
“This was an Ed Sheeran concert — not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event,” the petition said. “The question is not whether Macklemore has the right to hold political views. The question is where the line should be drawn when an opening act uses a global concert stage to promote a one-sided political agenda.”
Macklemore
(Photo: Joshua Sammer/Getty Images for Superbloom)
During his appearances on Sheeran’s tour earlier this month, Macklemore told the crowd that a major reason he wanted to join the tour was to use the platform to voice his support for Palestinians.
“I want the people from Gaza to the occupied West Bank to know that we have not forgotten you,” Macklemore told the crowd at the 80,000-seat MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. “I believe that every human being walking this earth deserves the exact same freedom, to know safety and peace before knowing the sounds of violence, and to know the sound of laughter on the playground before planes and bombs.”
Macklemore then performed “Hind’s Hall,” his song supporting the pro-Palestinian protest movement, as images of destruction in Gaza were shown on the stadium screens.
The song takes its name from Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in Gaza in January 2024. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University later occupied Hamilton Hall and renamed it “Hind’s Hall” in her memory during the wave of campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
Macklemore’s remarks spread widely on social media and generated another round of controversy after singer Pink reshared a call for him to be removed from Sheeran’s tour.