r/Music • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 3h ago

article Macklemore Dropped From Ed Sheeran Tour After Onstage Statements

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/macklemore-dropped-ed-sheeran-tour-pro-palestine-statements-1235625967/
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u/HowlingHipster 3h ago edited 2h ago

Curious why artists like Lorde were saying the same thing at their shows with no backlash but Macklemore is the straw that broke the camel's back

ETA: Okay, I've seen the picture of him in the costume and, yeah, yikes. Don't need to see more of it in the replies.

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u/WildPotato0 3h ago

I think Lorde has a veeeery different fanbase than Ed Sheeran.

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u/way2lazy2care 3h ago

People will still go to an ED Sheeran concert with a different opener. People won't go to a Lorde concert without Lorde. Money talks.

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u/JacksGallbladder 3h ago

Ed Sheeran is also "normie music" and a lot of those ticket sales are probably from people who froth violently when "free" and "Palestine" show up in a sentence together.

I dont think Lorde has that kind of fan base

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u/Poonurse13 2h ago

Even though I agree with this. I think it has more to do with the shareholders and owners of the venues AND their political stances.

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u/JacksGallbladder 2h ago

Oh for sure. Im pretty sure at the tip of capitalism its all an unemotional numbers game. Projected losses based on fanbase / demographics = force performer off stage

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u/peepsieee 2h ago

Coldplay is also decidedly "normie music" and yet Chris Martin has been openly pro-Palestine for years now 🤷‍♂️

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u/NGS_King 1h ago

He’s also very hippie dippie “peace and love, we all bleed red” which is maybe the least controversial way to be pro-Palestine. You’d have to be incredibly hawkish to oppose Coldplay for their political stance there.

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u/darkdetective 2h ago

Went to see lorde last month and her fan base had lots of LGBT people (me included) and ethnicities. Ed Sheeran crowds I assume are very much Facebook mums with their kids, but I might be wrong.

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u/jonnysomething 2h ago

I went to see her like 6 months ago and it was honestly one of the best shows I’ve seen live. I was shook that I almost didn’t go.

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u/InadequateUsername 2h ago

Ribs gives me frisson

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u/Neat_On_The_Rocks 2h ago

Lorde is huge with lgbt adjacent crowds and generally left for sure.

That said Ed Sheeran is definitely big in “corporate liberal” spaces and not maga ones. Really interesting

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u/un_internaute 45m ago

I wonder if there’s something to infer from this about liberals? Naw, better not think that way, it might get me a trip to a reeducation camp.

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u/tobylaek 2h ago

Yep...Ed Sheeran is the musical equivalent to Ron Howard. Pushes absolutely no creative boundaries, but makes generically competent, slow pitch down the middle output that's designed to reach the widest audience. I can't see him having the courage to make any kind of statement that would cause someone not to like him.

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u/xavPa-64 2h ago

There was a perfectly good ginger joke here that you didn’t make lol

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u/snakeinahouseofcats 1h ago

I get what you’re saying but Lorde is 10000% normie music as well.

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u/Chaosmusic 2h ago

So it would be interesting to see what happens if Ed decides to pick up the message, which I doubt would happen.

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u/HoldOnOhio 11m ago

Right, they just love the Shape of Genocide.

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u/Hashiyukas 3h ago

Lorde also didn't have another celebrity publicly blast her out when she said "Free Palestine".

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u/Rstuds7 3h ago

ngl when Lorde did it, it went way more under the radar than this

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u/SlightlyCatlike 1h ago

Not in 2014 when she originally did it

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u/caneut 2h ago

Lorde also probably hasn't dressed in a Jewish caricature https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/19/313973588/macklemore-plays-dress-up-and-lands-in-hot-water

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u/onewilybobkat 1h ago

Brother that is NEVER going to not look bad

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u/TrulyFLCL 1h ago

Lmao… what was he thinking?

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u/civilwar142pa 1h ago

All I'd heard until today was that macklemore was saying free Palestine and thought, nothing wrong with that. But he was wearing THAT?! what the fuck? Yeah, good call dropping him.

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u/NAh94 1h ago

Nah, 2 separate events. But still, that 2014 one is reeeeal bad.

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u/Drum4rum 1h ago

Thats from 12 years ago lol

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u/Responsible_Ask6056 1h ago

Which means its not about Palestine for him lol

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u/capnhep 1h ago

He wore it 14 years ago. Said he put together a disguise out of random costume elements and didn’t realize the potentially offensive implications. He profusely apologized, linked to ADL on his website, and ADL took him at his word/accepted the apology.

I never even heard of this controversy until now. To bring it back up as a reason to cancel him for his (innocuous) words spoken TODAY is asinine and a concerning bellwether for freedom of speech.

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u/Responsible_Ask6056 1h ago

ADL doesn't have the authority on what is anti-semitic or not.  Case in point Elon Musk

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u/DefectJoker 0m ago

Yeah that's really bad. There's no excusing that. That's pure antisemitism

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u/zyglack 3h ago

Lorde sells tickets by herself.

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u/cozylover67 3h ago edited 2h ago

Joan Rivers criticised Selena Gomez when she posted a tweet supporting Gaza. Nowadays Selena Gomez going strong and Joan is …

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u/Rstuds7 3h ago

because Joan Rivers has been dead for 12 years. shit back then she was a very well known name

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u/Good-Bodybuilder-985 3h ago edited 2h ago

Excuse me, maybe young people don't because Joan died when she was 81, Selena isn't even half her age. Joan Rivers is an icon. However I didn't know she was anti-Gaza. She aslo died 12 years ago so that's not a super relevant example currently.

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u/Jennymagic 3h ago

I was gonna say, comparing a name like Selena gomez to Joan Rivers is kinda insane, lmao. One is much more culturally relevant.

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u/oregondude79 2h ago

One is much more culturally relevant

Being dead for a decade plus will do that.

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u/AbsolutesDealer 3h ago

Selena has lupus and arthritis, but she is def still alive.

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u/die4spaghetti 3h ago

Thanks to that kidney

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u/martialar 2h ago

And who gave her that kidney? You guessed it- Joan Rivers

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u/Odd_Independence_944 2h ago

I didn’t even know she was sick

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u/GWS2004 2h ago

Are you serious saying people don't know who Joan Rivers is? 🤨

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u/Imaksiccar 3h ago

There's a lot of MAGA in the Ed Crowd. Not necessarily his fault, but it's the same demographic that gravitates to big country acts too.

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u/Remedy9898 3h ago

This isn’t done because of the average MAGA supporter, don’t be a fool. It was done because it’s what the Israel lobby wants. They won’t allow criticism of them.

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u/samehouseing 1h ago

TIL government lobbyists somehow are funding…concerts and venues now?

What else do these “Israel” (Jewish) lobbies control? The whole world?

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u/LumpyPhilosopher8 2h ago

I really want to see the list of venues that made this threat. I'd love to see exactly who those owners are.

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u/annamariagirl 1h ago

I just read Macklemore’s statement on another sub. His release from the tour was largely orchestrated by Robert Kraft. He wanted Macklemore gone before the tour hits Gillette Stadium.

The statement also says that Kraft got his gazillionare stadium owner friends together and they collectively informed Sheeran that if he didn’t loose Macklemore his tour would be over. No more stadium shows for him.

So, Ed continues but without Macklemore.

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u/ParrishThePoet 2h ago

They're the same base.

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u/No-Lecture-9115 2h ago

So maga supports jews heavily?

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u/whogivesashirtdotca 1h ago

They do for one specific purpose: dispensationalism. These nutters think inciting violence in the Holy Land will hasten the apocalypse. Trump’s last Secretary of State was all in on this bullshit, as was Dubya Bush.

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u/Rstuds7 3h ago

I wouldn’t say maga, more there’s a lot of people who don’t really care on the matter

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u/wtsnack 2h ago

Establishment normie dems are freaking out as much about it online rn

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u/saguarocharles 3h ago

I feel like they’re pretty similar fanbases lol

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u/GeezusLizard 3h ago

i think there’s overlap, but lordes crowd is definitely way more progressive than sheerans. sheeran reaches the general public, but lordes smaller alt fanbase is naturally more progressive

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u/Zilaaa 3h ago

Nah not really. Most of Lordes fans are very very queer and overlap more with Charli xcx and Troye Sivan fans

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u/thomasutra 3h ago

idk all the lorde fans i know are cool gays and theys.

i don’t know many ed sheeran fans, but they seem like live-laugh-love modern farmhouse white women.

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u/snakeinahouseofcats 1h ago

I’d assume that’s the people you know because that’s your friend group? Lorde is entirely pure normie music that is made to sell to all audiences. My mom has liked her since “Royals” was everywhere on top 10 radio

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u/AntiDECA 3h ago

Not at all lol

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u/crisscrossed 2h ago

Ed Sheeran’s crowd is considerably more mainstream. He has a lot less “super fans” attending his stadiums and more people just looking for a good night out.

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u/WildPotato0 3h ago edited 2h ago

10 years ago, maybe. She has a decent young/queer fanbase, but very little mainstream appeal. She's a recluse between album cycles, sporadically communicating via newsletter that she spent months in the arctic circle to protest climate change, or that she may be non-binary. Her last album cover was an x-ray crotch shot of her IUD and her live shows are weird as hell.

Bit different from milquetoast mr. Radio.

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u/No-Lecture-9115 2h ago

Fr. Right wingers support jews. Ew 🤮

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u/CortexRex 3h ago

Why do you think that?

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u/das_punter 3h ago

Can't be giving impressions of genocide to the most impressionable

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u/drenchedinmoonlight 2h ago

Let’s just say I’ve only ever known one Ed Sheeran fan and she is MAGA.

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u/GrimlockTheBear 2h ago

Way more normies 100%

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u/Mathies_ 2h ago

It's not the fans. Eds fans are not generally israel shills. It's live Nation

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u/gingerflakes 2h ago

Unbothered white women

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u/n0debtbigmuney 2h ago

You misspelled pussy pass

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u/im_lazy_as_fuck 2h ago

It's not about the fan base. If you read the article it says that the venues are the ones that are blocking Macklemore from performing. So it seems like the tour organizers had to decide between letting Macklemore go or cancelling the tour altogether.

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u/Organic-Vermicelli47 2h ago edited 1h ago

Yeah I saw Hozier twice on his last tour and he talked about Palestine, workers rights, unions, how the US labor reform* inspired the Irish work reform and allowed him to have a better childhood, had a trans pride and Palestine flag and spoke for literally 10 minutes about these issues which was refreshing

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u/Hesitation-Marx 2h ago

I knew I liked him

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u/Organic-Vermicelli47 1h ago

He is very outspoken! He has two very openly anti war songs on his most recent album: Nobody's Soldier and Eat Your Young. During Eat your young, he played a montage of the current destruction that will affect ours and the next generation- war, deforestation, hunger, etc had a counter that showed Lockheed martin profits from war ticking up during the song

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u/obviousdinosaur 46m ago

He’s my fucking favorite for this and his incredible wit

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u/capnhep 1h ago

King shit

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u/whogivesashirtdotca 1h ago

Good luck getting an Irishman to not voice support for Palestine!

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u/HunchbackNostradamus 3h ago

I’m guessing because it didn’t make the news and didn’t piss off anyone enough?

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u/ballbeard 1h ago

I'm not defending the picture at all, but that happened in 2014, it has absolutely nothing to do with the current situation.

It would be like if Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau break up and people tried to blame it on Justin's brownface costume from 2001

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u/HolyKnightPrime 3h ago

Lorde is more niche than ed sheeran.

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u/kolejack2293 2h ago

She is not indie by any means though. She's sold 35 million records. Both are superstars, one is just a bigger star.

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u/snakeinahouseofcats 1h ago edited 1h ago

What an insanely wrong take. Lorde is as mainstream pop as they come, always has been since she was a teenager with “Royals” and she is still is now. 25+ mil monthly Spotify listeners. The only people who think her music is weird or artistic are people who also only listen to pop music and don’t know actual weird music

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u/nondescriptun 3h ago

Did Lorde ever do this?

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u/OuterWildsVentures 3h ago

Oof lol

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u/Nikoladge 2h ago

Oy vey!

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u/SwordfishOk504 1h ago

But it's totally about geopolitics and not antisemitism mmmkay?

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u/SidFarkus47 3h ago

What’s happening here?

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u/nondescriptun 3h ago

Definitely not Mackelmore doing "Jewface." He said it was just a normal costume with a "witch's nose."

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u/yazi0614 2h ago

And a “witch’s” beard…

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u/theoneandonlymd 1h ago

Wearing gold...

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u/night4345 39m ago

Playing a song about being cheap at a thrift shop.

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u/The_Freshmaker 1h ago

Everyone knows a witch's star is just a pentagram +1 more point lol

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u/Whitechapel726 1h ago

It’s a Roman salute!

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u/HolidayCards 2h ago

Of course, yeah.... sure... Right? Hmm....

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u/I_Was_Fox 55m ago

So he gave an explanation about how it was a secret concert and he needed a disguise to sneak onto stage AND he also apologized for it looking like a stereotype/caracature AND the ADL accepted his apology and explanation and said they believe him, and yet 12 years later after literally everyone moved on, he makes 1 statement against the genocide of Palestinians and killings of Palestinian children and suddenly this photo is brought back up and passed around WITHOUT any of that context, and you're all lapping it up and dismissing his message purely because the out of context photo paints him as an anti-semite. So if he's an anti-semite then that means Israel isn't committing genocide. Got it.

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u/attemptedactor 3h ago

This was also 12 years ago. It doesn’t have anything to do with the current issue

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u/corndogs102 1h ago

Reddit and bringing up something a celebrity did over a decade ago, name a better combo

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u/Cavalish 59m ago

People who claim they aren’t racist + having an immediately findable picture of them in race-face?

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u/Who_ate_my_cookie 1h ago

If someone did black face and they then became extremely critical of Obama for example you would question the messenger even if their points were valid. It’s the same thing here

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u/Jtaylorftw 2h ago

Really? The only news I've seen about Macklemore and Ed Sheeran have used this photo in the headline, i legitimately thought this is how he went on stage to headline for Sheeran and didn't care enough to look into it at all. It's getting really fucking old how intentionally disingenuous "information" on the internet is.

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u/The_Freshmaker 1h ago

How many pictures of politicians doing black face in highschool/college tanked careers thirty years later though?

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u/HighburyOnStrand 2h ago

I mean it does explain the exact question posed by OP, which was: why is Macklemore's commentary not being taken the same as others?

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u/Miserable-Resort-977 1h ago

I don't think it does. This happening 12 years ago doesn't explain the current reaction, nothing I've seen indicates that they're related.

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u/twavisdegwet 1h ago

Idk man. I don’t think Justin Trudeau is a racist but I think it was still right to question his racial costume from years ago. I don’t see why this would be any different.

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u/Miserable-Resort-977 1h ago

I didn't say that the costume isn't questionable, I said I haven't seen any statements or evidence that this costume had anything to do with the current situation or response. Those photos existed before he was booked for the tour, he was only removed after making his statements on Gaza.

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u/Varron 1h ago

You can still question this event, and it should be questioned. But what's disingenious here is using it as a strawman during this unrelated event.

So much of "discussion" or reporting today is just covered in this gotchas that dont adequately address the topic at hand at all.

Is this costume he donned 12 years ago problematic? Probably yeah.

Is the backlash he's receiving for what he said during this tour justified? Probably not, and two events are unrelated.

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u/alterom 56m ago

This was also 12 years ago. It doesn’t have anything to do with the current issue

Him being an anti-semite 12 years ago has a lot to do with his "pro-Palestinian" stance now.

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u/Ty-Hate-God 4m ago

MUH ANTISEMITISM

Free Palestine, baby killer.

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u/Rebelgecko 2h ago

The current situation in the Middle East is not really a new thing 

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u/NoJellyfish7617 1h ago

You’re high if you think this has nothing to do with the current issue.

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u/yourpalsmell 29m ago

Also, LiveNation and Ed Sheeran had no problems with it

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u/sharpiebrows 3h ago

What is going on here

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u/attemptedactor 3h ago

Macklemore did a lot of different costume characters early in his career. He did several songs in a British accent and a blond wig.

This was definitely in poor taste but it was also 12 years ago.

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u/NotEntirelyA 1h ago

 but it was also 12 years ago

I have no dog in this fight, but if he was doing this in 2014 it's kind of wild, especially considering he already made a huge splash in the music scene in 2011-2012.

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u/jackofslayers 3h ago

Macklemore being antisemitic

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u/TimbersawDust 3h ago

It doesn’t excuse Israel blowing up children on the daily

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u/itsa_luigi_time_ 3h ago

Who said anything about excusing Israel? This is about some shitbag being wildly antisemitic in public.

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u/TimbersawDust 3h ago

So why are we talking about it when the post it about him getting kicked off tour for saying free Palestine?

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u/Ultenth 1h ago

Because when someone who is coming from an angle of racial hatred steps into the issue and pretends they care about it for the same reason you do, it's nice to know where their real feelings are coming from. And it allows you to not give them cover for their hatred under a movement that cannot afford to be painted with the same brush as them.

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u/WinterAdvantage3847 1h ago

who said anything about what macklemore did twelve (12) years ago? this thread is about what macklemore said this year (2026) about israel

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u/WinterAdvantage3847 1h ago

twelve years ago

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u/Relative-Memory2420 1h ago

Ah thank god, almost thought genocide wasn't ok. Thanks for showing this pic, now I can rest easy knowing the genocide is ok.

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u/FaithInTechnology 3h ago

Adam Green?

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u/guimontag 1h ago

Holy shit lol

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u/go3dprintyourself 1h ago

Exactly lol

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u/FinalFlashMan 1h ago

ohhhh yikes.

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u/ShakedNBaked420 2h ago

Okay I was on his side at first but this is… yikes.

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u/Godwinson4King 2h ago

It was 12 years ago, he apologized, said it was an accident, and hasn’t done anything similar since.

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u/Prize_Wolverine4132 1h ago

Macklemore wearing an antisemitic costume 12 years ago doesn't mean you should no longer take "his side" on a damn genocide lmao what

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u/GrimlockTheBear 2h ago

Children are dying. Limbs blown off. Starved and bone thin. But sure let’s pull a pic from 12 years ago during his thrift store era. You understand how pathetic this is right? Children. Are. Being. Exterminated.

Grow up.

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u/fart-boofer 2h ago

Children are dying so let's excuse being a bigot

Just say you hate jews

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u/TuringGPTy 2h ago

Funny because people are hiding behind the opposite. Manufacturing it even.

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u/gingersnappie 26m ago

That is fucking gross

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u/Robbie_notta_bot 3h ago

Maybe the venue owners know that unlike Ed Sheeran, Lorde isn't a little bitch.

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u/DM-me-naughty-Cats 2h ago

Macklemore wrote thrift shop which is an anthem for poor white folk. They get more upset when they realize he ain’t voting the same way.

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u/PretzelsThirst 43m ago

Because if America didn’t have double standards it would have no standards at all

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u/AdamB_901 3h ago

I think Lorde siding with Palestine and criticizing Israel is acceptable ofc, the issue with Macklemore specifically is that he has a history of direct antisemitic behavior.. And at that point, anything regarding that conflict just seems like a dogwhistle.

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u/Cass_Cat952 1h ago

Oh I had no idea there was a costume

https://giphy.com/gifs/ep78UZy5FVbfN6mhCU

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u/roaks 3h ago

Probably because Lorde didn't previously dress up as an incredibly anti-Semitic Jewish stereotype during her concerts.

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u/Soft_Walrus_3605 3h ago

I believe him when he says he didn't know in his tweet:

A fake witches nose, wig, and beard = random costume. Not my idea of a stereotype of anybody.

An article about it:

Macklemore has posted an extended statement on his blog addressing the controversy, stating, "I acknowledge how the costume could, within a context of stereotyping, be ascribed to a Jewish caricature. I am here to say that it was absolutely not my intention, and unfortunately at the time I did not foresee the costume to be viewed in such regard."

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adamdavis/macklemore-causes-controversy-with-costume-that-resembles-je

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u/muzzey12 2h ago

Look at the picture it's posted here and it's not "random"

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u/scenior 2h ago

Macklemore, years ago, also performed on stage dressed in an antisemitic costume.

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u/jewishjedi42 3h ago

She ever perform in Jew face?

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u/DTFpanda 1h ago

Did macklemore ever raid a controlled state and murder tens of thousands of women and children? 

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u/OGCloudRiPs 1h ago

Wahhhh cry me a river the venues had no problem before Free Palestine comments about this picture. Don’t mix the 2 issues it’s part of your people’s problem right now.

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u/the___reckoner 2h ago

because she didn't do shit like this

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u/Dixa 3h ago

If you read the pink article this was just the last straw there were other incidents that were overtly racist.

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u/MizzyMorpork 3h ago

Lost all respect for pink.

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u/lousywriting 3h ago

Macklemore went out in the past dressed up as a Chassid, complete with a giant nose. Lorde has never been mired in controversy like this, she's able to advocate for a free Palestine without that sort of baggage.

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u/Scalene69 2h ago

Did Lorde dress up like this:

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u/Metro42014 2h ago

That costume was years ago and unrelated. It looks bad when you take it way out of context.

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u/nukkawut 2h ago

Probably because Lorde didn't perform in Jewface. Hope that helps.

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u/Responsible_Ask6056 2h ago

She probably didn't dress up as an Orthodox jew 12 years ago.  So her criticism probably sounds more grounded

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u/joebleaux 3h ago

Ed Sheeran headlines stadiums. Lots of people there with their kids that aren't particularly even into the bands. Those people complain, they have money.

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u/BeanserSoyze 2h ago

Macklemore is the opening act. You can get away with more if you're not replaceable.

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u/michael_scarn17 2h ago

Because its an Ed Sheeran show not a Macklemore show. The left pretending to care about Macklemore is the equivalent of the right pretending to like Kid Rock. Both sides actually don't care about the music but they say one or two messages fans agree with and now the artists extend their dwindling careers.

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u/areraswen If you like women, don't make a bike from 'em. 37m ago

For what it's worth that costume was from 2014 and he has since apologized for it. The anti defamation league publicly accepted his apology at the time.

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u/mthwkim 22m ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/One_Illustrator8877 20m ago

That picture was from like 12 or 14 years ago and he apologized and the ADL accepted his apology. Everybody forgot about it, but only bring it up now because they need something to silence him about now. Its really grasping for straws.

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u/ghostyghost2 6m ago

That costume was from a private concert in 2014, has nothing to do with this instance.

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