Ed Sheeran drops Macklemore from tour after ‘free Palestine’ remark

By Kai Uyehara, The Seattle Times

Macklemore has been dropped from the rest of Ed Sheeran’s tour after several venues said they wouldn’t allow the Seattle rapper to play, according to Sheeran’s touring group.

During the tour’s stop earlier this month at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Macklemore called for a “free Palestine” on stage and made several statements supporting Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

The Messina Touring Group told Rolling Stone they “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.”

Of the eight remaining stops on Sheeran’s “The Loop Tour,” the venues that allegedly objected to Macklemore’s presence, according to Rolling Stone, include Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia; Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.; Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina; AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

The rapper has landed in hot water before after making political statements on stage.

At a Palestine Will Live Forever benefit concert at Seward Park in 2024, Macklemore told the audience, “Straight up, say it. I’m not gonna stop you. I’m not gonna stop you. Yeah, (expletive) America.”

A Las Vegas music festival immediately dropped the rapper from the bill and the Seattle Mariners replaced his hit song “Can’t Hold Us” played during the seventh-inning stretch with their “Hot Dogs From Heaven” marketing campaign.

The Mariners later replaced the Macklemore song with “Louie Louie” in 2025.

Macklemore has been an outspoken advocate for Palestinians for years. The Seattle rapper released a protest song, “Hind’s Hall,” about pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University who took over a building on campus and named it after Hind Rajab, a 5-year-old killed by the Israeli military. He also released a sequel to the song a few months later.

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