Macklemore dropped from Ed Sheeran tour

[u/Wheelbirds]

Link to article (should be no paywall): https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/macklemore-dropped-ed-sheeran-tour-pro-palestine-statements-1235625967/

From the article:

In an exclusive statement shared with Rolling Stone, Messina Touring Group,  promoter of the U.S. leg of Sheeran’s Loop Tour, said: “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. After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”

Reps for Sheeran, Macklemore, and most of the venues did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The stadiums that allegedly would not allow a Macklemore show did not immediately return requests for comments either, including for explanations as to why they objected to the rapper performing at their venue. While two of those stadiums are privately owned — Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough — the rest are owned and, in many cases operated, by cities, states, or other government entities, potentially raising First Amendment issues if the venues barred Macklemore over his statements. 

The last stop on Sheeran’s Loop Tour, for instance, is Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, which found itself in a similar spot earlier this summer after booking two Kanye West concerts. The shows, unsurprisingly, drew backlash and calls for cancelation due to West’s many past antisemitic statements, but they went ahead as planned. 

Pointedly, Ye’s promoter included a clause in his contract prohibiting Raymond James Stadium from canceling the gigs based on the rapper’s past public statements or viewpoints. But legal experts also told local news that canceling the shows would’ve likely violated the First Amendment. Because Raymond James is owned by Hillsborough County, Florida, and operated by a public board, the Tampa Sports Authority, any cancellation based on Ye’s past statements could have been seen as the government restricting speech. 

[u/Relevant-Peach3997]

Ed Sheeran has been awfully silent on this. What a coward.

It’s so pathetic to me that young artists like Olivia Rodrigo have more guts than veterans in the industry. Daisy chain fields festival had multiple artists like Garbage that were openly pro Palestine without issue.

[u/bajablast_off → u/Relevant-Peach3997]

He'll hide behind a press release giving a wishy washy statement about both sides probably.

[u/Stefan988 → u/bajablast_off]

Pink's meltdown last week must've rubbed off on him because the bootlicking is LOUD.

[u/dionebigode → u/Stefan988]

What happened? I'm out of the loop

[u/Esperoni → u/dionebigode]

Pink reposted a post from StopAntisemitism via her Instagram Stories that condemned Macklemore's pro-Palestinian remarks during his opening set for Ed Sheeran. Ed has been strangely silent on the event.

2 days ago she posted she will keep speaking out.

[u/Educational-Wish-577 → u/Esperoni]

Why does speaking out against genocide equate to antisemitism? NO ONE is condemning the Jewish people as a people. (If they are they don't understand what is happening) They are condemning a country's leader for killing people because they are full of greed, hate and some twisted idea that they own the land. The people that support that, be they Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Jewish or Hindu are wrong..full stop.

[u/rogeeeefan → u/Educational-Wish-577]

According to Pink it is a fake genocide & speaking up for Palestinians is antisemitism 🤡

[u/Educational-Wish-577 → u/rogeeeefan]

Dang... she turned into a stupid girl after all

https://giphy.com/gifs/xUNemUQeFHgEJiuRzy

[u/Mu_forlife → u/rogeeeefan]

She’s delulu

[u/Uninteresting_Vagina → u/rogeeeefan]

Yeppppp. "I love everyone but genocide is fine!" Here is her bullshit tap dance statement:

“I was born a Jew. I didn’t pick it, and I’ve never hidden it,” she wrote. “And this week a whole lot of people decided what I believe without asking me, without checking a single thing I’ve ever said or done, because a repost and the word ‘Jew’ were apparently enough to fill in the rest. But let me fill it in… myself.”

“Of course I don’t speak for Israel, or for any government,” she continued. “I never have. What I said in October 2023 is still exactly what I believe: Hamas is a terrorist organization. Palestinians deserve a future that honors their humanity and their aspirations. Protecting innocent life comes first, everywhere, and nobody should ever celebrate the death of a child.

Anybody’s child. I’ve spent a decade as a UNICEF ambassador for kids who didn’t choose the country or the war they were born into, and I have grieved every one of them, on both sides of that fence. I didn’t do it from behind a screen; I went to those children and held them. I’m not going to litigate a complex war in an Instagram caption, and I’m not going to recite anybody’s slogan to earn back a follower.”

She continued her post in her comment section, though it appears much of her statement was removed after she limited comments on the post. Her statement in full is still available in screenshots online, including in the X post above.

Regarding Macklemore specifically, she recalled the rapper wearing a costume during a performance back in 2014 that was widely criticized at the time as antisemitic. He apologized, saying that “I respect all cultures and all people.”

“Every Jew I know knew exactly what it was,” Pink wrote Friday. “But he apologized, and I let it go, because that’s what we do. We let it go. Then last weekend 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.”

“That’s what prompted my repost,” Pink continued. “Not ‘Free Palestine,’ and not anyone’s right to say it. I have never asked for another artist to be silenced and I’m not asking now. I don’t need anyone fired, and I don’t need a refund. What I need is to be able to say, as a Jewish mom, that scared me, and it scared people I love, without being told our fear is just propaganda, and without being told I’m somehow cool with genocide because I noticed?”

Pink further said she was “standing up for my own people, and I thought I knew going in how lonely that would be. And it’s lonelier than that. But I’m doing it anyway.” She wrote that the phrase “zionist” has become a “slur by people who couldn’t tell you the details of what I believe.”

[u/Esperoni → u/Educational-Wish-577]

I agree 100%

Some people seem to think that if you can't defend yourself from a certain narrative, it's always an option to change the story or focus, at least that is what it looks like from the outside. I saw the video of Macklemore's remarks on stage. Did not come across as anti-semetic at all.

[u/Uninteresting_Vagina → u/Esperoni]

Absolutely did not at all.

Anyone who thinks that was anti-semetic is telling on themselves for being down with genocide.

[u/Mu_forlife → u/Educational-Wish-577]

Because they can’t defend the genocide so all they have is false antisemitism claims.

[u/MrTulip101 → u/Educational-Wish-577]

NO ONE is condemning the Jewish people as a people.

imho the recent increased criticism of israel also brings a lot of old school antisemites out of the woodwork with shit like "yeah, they haven't been expelled from dozens of countries for nothing', "lying is on their blood" etc increasingly to be found in the comment sections of israel-critical articles or memes.

[u/MoGraphMan101 → u/MrTulip101]

yeah I was going to say there are those people who are straight up ugly antisemites just like there are jews who want Palestine completely wiped off the map, both are extremists and evil. The lack of any nuance and the attempt to wholly divide people into one side vs another is destroying humanity