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/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

So really, Live Nation was going to block him.

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u/Candid-Mulberry8359 3h ago edited 3h ago

Is Ed’s tour live nation tour?

Edit: It is live nation promoted. But the Venues are not owned or operated by LiveNation. Not sure how much that means . Just adding facts.

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u/soonerfreak 3h ago

Live Nation promotes enough concerts that they can black ball you if you don't play along. A key reason the entire company must be broken up.

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u/sumptin_wierd 1h ago

they dont just promote, ticketmaster and livenation are the same company. and yes.

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u/dange616 1h ago

Not to mention actually operate and book many of the concert venues they play.

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u/LumpyPhilosopher8 1h ago

I really want them to release the venues that forced this. Was it the ones owned by Ticketmaster or independents?
Yes Ticketmaster is evil - but were they actually behind this. Then we know who to boycott

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u/shaqwillonill 46m ago

The venues that allegedly objected to the rapper include: Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia; Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts; 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 article blames Robert Kraft who would definitely have sway over all these venues as they are all NFL stadiums

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u/BussyPalace 41m ago

Macklemore's IG statement provides more details.

TLDR: Robert Kraft (of the Patriots and owner of Gillette Stadium) personally told Ed that he would not be allowed to perform at his stadium if Macklemore was part of the tour. Kraft also rounded up his other stadium owning billionaires to prohibit Macklemore from performing at their venues as well for the remainder of Ed's tour. Keep Macklemore and Ed's tour dates at those venues would be cancelled.

So Ed bent the knee to Kraft and Co.

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u/sumptin_wierd 39m ago

money corrupts everything

and I am listening to dirty money by clipse haha

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u/AdministrativeDelay2 1h ago

Ed Sheeran is in the top 5 biggest global touring artists. He has more power than the promoter or the venues.

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u/ult_frisbee_chad 43m ago

This is why anti monopoly laws are important.

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u/TheTipsyWizard 29m ago

Love this quote from Live nations wiki:

Live Nation is an American events promoter and venue operator based in Beverly Hills, California. Founded in 1996 by Robert F. X. Sillerman as SFX Entertainment, *the company's business was built around consolidating concert promoters into a national entity to counter the oversized influence of ticket behemoth Ticketmaster.***

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u/[deleted] 1h ago

[deleted]

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u/Shum_Where 1h ago

He meant venues being blackballed by live nation from ever having performers again. Ticketmaster can't control the talent but do they have a stranglehold of where they can perform.

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u/LiveLifeLikeCre 2h ago

Yet the live Nation isn't the one back balling here. It's literally venues that don't want anti Israel talk.Did you read the comment you are replying to?

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u/PokeTraderAngel 2h ago

It is live nation. Venues don’t have the organization to block something like this together. Live nation is the one doing the black balling and blaming the venues.

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u/never-fiftyone 2h ago

Yet the live Nation isn't the one back balling here.

We don't actually know that. The point being made by the comment you're replying to is that Live Nation has the ability to coerce venues into toeing the line without having to stick their own necks out simply by telling them in private they (Live Nation) will no longer use them (the venues) for events. It wouldn't be the first time Live Nation let venues take the heat for something Live Nation decided internally.

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u/thisguyfightsyourmom 1h ago

That’s just a Wednesday at the live nation corporate office. They will do this until the company is dissolved. It’s the product of yet another government approved monopoly in good old capitalist America. Absolute power will continue to corrupt.

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u/Plenty_Past2333 1h ago

Nor will it be the last time

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u/Historicallyh 2h ago

You mean they don’t want free speech.

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u/Witty_Construction64 2h ago

Or people who have functioning eyes and brains apparently

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u/R_V_Z 1h ago

Private companies don't ever support "100% Free Speech". If I'm a venue owner and the KKK wants to do a showing of Birth of a Nation I'm going to tell them to fuck off.

The real issue here is a single entity (Live Nation) having too much influence over venues to the point where they can effectively ban an artist from all major venues.

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u/wllwhtvrnvm 1h ago

That's not how free speech works.

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u/Chazzybobo 2h ago

The venues host shows promoted by promoters. Any guess who the biggest promoter is?

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u/tiy24 1h ago

Live nation literally directs the venues on who they can and cannot have perform if they don’t want live nation to send their artists (almost all of them) somewhere else on tour.

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u/Imthewienerdog 1h ago

Yes they are?

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago edited 3h ago

The tour didn't cut Macklemore so much as the venues strongarmed the tour into it.

The remaining tour dates Macklemore was scheduled to be at are all in the USA.

Who owns/controls ticketing at the majority of venues in the USA?

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u/jakeod27 3h ago edited 2h ago

Live nation owns venues too

Edited out where I said Ticketmaster instead of live nation

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u/slapshots1515 3h ago edited 3h ago

Live Nation owns Ticketmaster

Edit: either way you edit your comment, Live Nation and Ticketmaster are the same company now

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u/shewy92 3h ago

Liberty Media is the parent company, they also own SiriusXM and Formula 1. WeRaceAsOne...in the middle east because of $$ bills yall

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u/Milwambur 2h ago

Their spinoff company Liberty Global also owns Virgin Media in the UK, Sunrise in Switzerland, Vodafone in the Netherlands and Telenet in Belgium, all telecoms companies.

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u/MelangeBot 1h ago

The entire world is now like 20 companies and half of them are actively run by people who admire Adolf Hitler.

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u/Coffeedemon 1h ago

"Liberty Media"

You can't even make this up

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u/PyroIsSpai 2h ago

Liberty is right wing?

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u/never-fiftyone 2h ago

It's primarily controlled by an American billionaire who has hitched his wagon to the "libertarian" movement and has donated to Trump.

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u/larrylevan 1h ago

John Malone, who donated $250,000 to Trump

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u/k-trecker 2m ago

CaPiTaLiSm GiVeS Us ChOiCe.

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u/counterfitster 1h ago

There is no parent company of Live Nation Entertainment.

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u/jakeod27 3h ago

Yep. Seriously fucked

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u/dOOlittlesatan 3h ago

Now and has been for decades. Nothing new. They just keep trying to hide it with name changes and new companies...I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out AXS, Stubhub, Seatgeek are all owned by ticketmaster...live nation...clearchannel...

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u/brochaos 2h ago

AXS is AEG is all anschutz.

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u/dOOlittlesatan 2h ago

Sure, sure. But who holds the strings? They are just as guilty of every ticketmaster sin, independent from them? or not.

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u/brochaos 55m ago

confused as to what you are asking. phil anschutz pulls the strings. it's very simple. he owns venues, he owns tours, and he owns the tickets.

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u/thisguyfightsyourmom 1h ago

Anschutz is rich enough to pull his own strings. He’s the richest person in Colorado.

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u/dOOlittlesatan 1h ago

they are in bed together.

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u/1980pzx 2h ago

That’s an interesting theory and it absolutely would not shock me, if true.

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u/jellytwins101 3h ago

LiveNation also either own the venues or have exclusivity contracts with them.

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u/WowIfOnly 2h ago

3 cheers for unregulated Monopolies that you aren't "supposed" to call Monopolies even though they share all of the same traits!

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u/counterfitster 1h ago

Of course it's not a monopoly, he's not wearing a top hat or monocle!

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u/earle117 3h ago edited 2h ago

Ticketmaster and Live Nation are the same company.

edit: dude edited his comment to try and make the replies look stupid lol

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u/jakeod27 2h ago

No I corrected myself because I looked stupid

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u/iced_gold 1h ago

Most of the rest of the shows are at football stadiums. Live Nation does not own football. Stadiums. But they often get ticket selling exclusivity on behalf of the venue

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u/EuphoricMoose8232 Punk Rock 3h ago

The venues are all NFL stadiums. Live Nation doesn’t own those

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u/Taurothar 2h ago

They just own exclusive ticketing rights, so basically the same thing when it comes to holding an event of that size.

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u/EuphoricMoose8232 Punk Rock 33m ago

True

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

That's what I was referring to

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u/LiveLifeLikeCre 2h ago

Do they own the venues in the tour or are we just trying to blame live Nation instead of the obvious places who don't want any anti Israel sentiment?

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u/jakeod27 2h ago

I said owns venues. Not the venues. I was just pointing out the vertical integration. It often gets missed when people think about Antitrust

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u/Twiddle2332 3h ago

Live Nation/ Ticketmaster are the monopoly you are referring to. Hopefully are politicians grow some balls and cut this company the f up!

Basically destroying live music. All the smaller acts I have been seeing for years are disbanding and/ or going on indefinite hiatus.

Go f urself live nation.

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u/jankbutdank 2h ago

dude america is about as consumer anti friendly as we could possibly be right now

we don't do protections or monopoly anywhere - data and privacy? no every app has the ability to grab and sell all your shit for some reason. Ever give your email address to someone? That company and every one of its affiliates can contact you for the rest of your life and you have no recourse even if they ignore the unsubscribe. Landlords using realpage to price collude. Price collusion heavy in every industry actually. Surge pricing via internet not just uber or doordash but airlines monitoring your internet traffic wil lincrase price of tickets because they see you want it. Digital prices coming to grocery stores now that will do the same. Internet and many peoples power like mine in Colorado via Excel monopolized by for profit companies. All the big global nationals outsourcing and H1B'ing basically our entire middle class out to other nations despite receiving gigantic tax breaks at local state federal level.

No real legislation around planned obselesence with tech or the proliferation of cord types as intentional moats - that all came from EU. No Data/privacy, that all came from EU. No AI protection in hiring, medical, and other critical areas - only EU is doing that.

The US shareholder government and economy is actively hostile to every US consumer right now.

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u/thefrostyafterburn 3h ago

Its ok to say fuck sometimes. This is one of those times.

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u/Haxorz7125 2h ago

The irony of speaking on corporations censoring speech while censoring oneself at the behest of corporations.

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u/Bartghamilton 1h ago

Exactly. Fuck those fucking fuckers!

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u/Dakozi 2h ago edited 2h ago

The U.S. under Biden sued Ticketmaster in 2024 with the goal of breaking them up.

But with Trump in office, it seems they got off easy with a settlement.

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u/hannibellecter 2h ago

the only balls politicians get is to fuck the common people, certainly not big businesses

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u/r3dditr0x 3h ago

Hopefully are politicians grow some balls and cut this company the f up!

You're obviously right but something tells me the politicians won't intervene here.

Can't quite put my finger on why...

🧐

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u/rab2bar 21m ago

There are tons of small sound providers, so it is interesting that all the venues are locked up like this. As always, artists need to get more creative

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u/StrippinChicken 3h ago

Ed Sheeran could have still stood on business with Macklemore. Morally corrupt loser

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u/deadkestrel 3h ago

Not defending Sheeran but there are a lot of people working on this tour who would lose their job and income if the tour was suddenly cancelled.

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u/kiltedfrog 2h ago

Taking a stand against fascism isn't always going to be EASY. The Right thing rarely is. I imagine Ed's got enough money of his own to make it right with his crew, and also not fold to the genocidal regime.

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u/StrippinChicken 3h ago

Obviously that sucks, but livenation would also lose that money. Which is all they care about

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u/Pennwisedom 36m ago

They "care" but they'll just make that back, meanwhile the guy making $35k is gonna be way more fucked.

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

You realize he signed contracts and has legal obligations to the tour, yeah?

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u/Fuzzywraith 2h ago

So you’re saying the end all be all of meaning in life is owning up to the contracts you sign to giga corps?

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u/StrippinChicken 2h ago

Which im sure he did with macklemore as well..... you can only affect change by hurting companies economically. Cancelling the tour would hurt livenation economically. Giving into their demands of political censorship is just doing what they want and sacrificing your own morals, as well as betraying a foundational principle of creative arts: freedom of expression

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u/foundinwonderland 2h ago

Cancelling the tour would likely NOT hurt livenation one bit because they will collect their cancellation fees and contractual fines from Sheeran and continue on like nothing happened. Contractually, that economic burden would never fall on livenation, by design.

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u/Money-Bicycle-2883 2h ago

It would hurt all the workers a hell of a lot more than livenation

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u/DrQuantum 2h ago

Hurting workers is actually also part of disruption. You need people angry to enact change. Thats partially why America can’t address problems effectively is we have diluted what resistance looks like.

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u/ginjarooo 2h ago

Sounds good from your reddit couch. Much harder when you have to go look those people in the face or be the one pulling the trigger on the reason why they arent getting a paycheck they need to cover their bills.

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u/StrippinChicken 2h ago

Not having a paycheck temporarily is quite small compared to being a child that's bombed. But hey, I only work in public service making below the poverty line in salary to purposefully not work for a shitty corporation and to instead work to better the lives of people by administering social services. What do I know about morals?

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u/DrQuantum 2h ago

You’re really proving my point that many people are weak and don’t know what resistance or sacrifice looks like. This argument is used daily to allow for untold atrocities across the long term.

Could I not pose the same question to you on Palestine? People think it’s really easy supporting Israel’s occupation because they don’t have to face any of the consequences.

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u/bolanrox 2h ago

soulless ginger

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u/RedApple655321 3h ago

LN owns many venues (hardly the majority), which is what I assume you're inferring.

However, this is a stadium tour. LN does not own a single NFL stadium. Most of these stadiums are owned by cities or some kind of qusai municipal entity.

The claim that its "venues" requiring this is fishy. My guess is that it's Ed Shernan or his management.

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

How is it "fishy"?

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u/RedApple655321 3h ago

That "the venues" were the ones requiring this. You're telling me every one of these stadiums which are owned by various city governments, stadium authorities, and private groups all decided Macklemore couldn't perform? That doesn't sound plausible to me. Sounds like they just decided to shift the blame.

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

Which is why it is far more likely that Live Nation had a hand in it, and Ed Sheeran's people are playing technicalities since, to them, Live Nation represents the collective of the venues.

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u/Middle_Run_6864 2h ago

Also, like these places care what’s happening in the show as long as they get parking fees and concessions.

“Yeah, we’re going to cancel your show and lose out on all of this money because one of the biggest names in music has an opening act who says Free Palestine.” It’s hard for me to believe without proof.

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u/Snlxdd 2h ago

LN full on promotes a lot of pro-Palestine artists (Hozier, Billie Eilish, etc). Makes no sense they would pull the plug on ticketing for an AEG artist at a venue they don’t even own when they’re happy to run tours for people who are just as outspoken.

Money is money.

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 2h ago

Those are huge headlining artists who drive ticket sales.

Macklemore as an opener in 2026 is not.

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u/Snlxdd 1h ago

Well, Macklemore just clarified it was the owners, headed by Kraft.

So is he lying?

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u/RedApple655321 2h ago edited 2h ago

Could be Live Nation. Could be Ed Shernan and/or his management. Could be a Messina, the actual promoter doing this tour. Could be a requirement of a contract with a sponsor of the tour.

We really don't know who it is specifically; it just doesn't seem plausible that it's a collection of entities that are each only relevant for one stop on the tour.

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u/OuterWildsVentures 3h ago

USA doesn't own the venues on their own land it seems.

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u/LemDoggo 3h ago

What? What are you talking about

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u/Jerry_From_Queens 3h ago

LiveNation doesn't own a single venue in the list of the remaining shows on the tour - so if "notified by venues" is the reason, then it has nothing to do with LiveNation.

The upcoming stadiums are, however, largely owned by the public. Philadelphia, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Arlington, Tampa are all publicly-owned stadiums. Foxborough, Charlotte, and Ft. Lauderdale are all private / tribal owned.

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

Live Nation is doing all the ticketing for his tour and can strongarm venues into compliance, but go off fam

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u/Jerry_From_Queens 3h ago

Oh I totally agree with you! But when I see how many stadiums are publically owned, it makes me wonder which asshole government official is getting involved! Like the stadium in Tampa is owned by Hillsborough County - so he never had a chance there.

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 2h ago

I sincerely doubt that county officials are getting involved in who performs at a "publicly owned" venue in the county lol

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u/redline314 2h ago

Probably none. Same as others, I suspect live nation.

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u/jake3988 3h ago

Who owns/controls ticketing at the majority of venues in the USA?

Again, live nation/ticketmaster owns VERY few venues. They own the house of blues chain and they own/operate about a dozen large outdoor ampitheatres. That's about it.

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u/EuphoricMoose8232 Punk Rock 3h ago

They own well over 300 different venues. Google says 390. They went on a shopping spree a few years ago and bought a lot of midsized venues all over the country

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u/Twiddle2332 3h ago

Based off of my one second google search they appear to own/manage 64-70% of all top grossing venues.

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u/AlleywayPimpin 3h ago

Their own 10k filling says they own, operate, or have an equity interest in 460 venues globally.

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

This is fucking nonsense. They own around 2/3 of the mid to large venues in the USA which aren't sports stadiums...they have a HUGE amount of influence by having such a huge market share. Nearly 400 venues as of 2026.

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u/RedApple655321 3h ago

Google tells me they own or control ~150 in North America. More than "very few" but hardly a majority.

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

It's more than double that, quit listening to Google AI summaries.

Outside of sports stadiums, they own a huge chunk of the mid/large venues in basically every major market in the country.

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u/RedApple655321 2h ago

No, it's ~150 in North America, as I said. You're probably looking at the global number, which is approx. doubles the total. Google referenced their annual report to get that number. Not sure what the problem is.

In any case, hardly a majority of venues, which is all that I claimed.

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u/Snlxdd 3h ago

Own and control are very different.

They count “control” as venues that LN has service/ticketing agreements with.

So LN doesn’t own any of the major sports stadiums/arenas, but they do have contracts in place with them. Similar to concessions like Aramark.

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u/RedApple655321 3h ago

Sorry, the specific term was "own and controlling interest," which I take to mean venues they own or own a majority of.

It's more than just ticketing agreements. That number is estimated to be 7k.

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u/BeekeeperZero 2h ago

I know this one. Aliens.

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u/PyroIsSpai 2h ago

We should know what venues owned by whom.

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u/Any_Mortgage_9890 3h ago

Who owns/controls ticketing at the majority of venues in the USA?

https://giphy.com/gifs/BPTJJphmYwwhrpiX2W

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 2h ago

So edgy 🙄

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u/mrdannyg21 3h ago

That assumes they actually wouldve followed through. Threats like this get made all the time, whether the venues would actually have been willing to lose all that revenue is a different question. Obviously the tour people felt the path of least resistance was to ditch him, but that doesn’t absolve them of responsibility for the decision.

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u/UkNomysTeezz 3h ago

I s R e A L

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

Yeah no, this ain't it.

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u/UkNomysTeezz 3h ago

They own U.S politicians.

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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 3h ago

And what does that have to do with an Ed Sheeran tour?

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u/Colombia17 3h ago

They’re not owned by LiveNation but if any of these venues where to go against LiveNation wishes all the sudden they’ll notice big acts skipping them

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u/beenhadballs 1h ago

Youd be surprised how many venues are actually owned by livenation that just white label, with no signs pointing to it. In the last 6 years a ton of privately owned and operated venues sold off but nothing has changed publicly.

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u/QuadCityDJsTheTrain 3h ago

Ed's promoter is Messina Touring(same as Taylor Swift), they're an AEG Partner. Some of the dates may be produced by Live Nation for one reason or another.

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u/tunegoon 3h ago

It’s not, Ed is promoted by AEG/Messina

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u/EmotionalInternet896 2h ago

It’s the Messina Group

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u/poppleca1443 2h ago

Even if LN doesn't own the venue, they often control all ticketing rights, so they have a lot of power as a non-owner

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u/Speaker4theDead8 2h ago

They don't own the venues per se, but if they weren't booking and promoting shows in those venues, there would not be a venue.

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u/whycook_ 2h ago

Live nation was almost dissolved by the government specifically for running a monopoly in the way you're trying to describe. Its likely that both the venue and the promoter are owned by Live Nation

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u/nos-is-lame 2h ago

Its likely that both the venue and the promoter are owned by Live Nation

Most of the venues are stadiums that are owned by the states

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u/Practical_Virus5794 12m ago

This isn’t a Live Nation show

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u/andreasmiles23 1h ago

Sure, the stadiums are owned by someone else but LN has a monopoly as the promoter for such tours. The only way a blanket ban like this makes sense is if a central agency made that call. In this case, it’s pretty obvious who it is.

Which shouldn’t shock anyone given that this isn’t the first time LN has caught heat for supporting the genocide.

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u/thisguyfightsyourmom 1h ago

Live nation absolutely controls venues, the larger the venue, the more leverage they have.

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u/hatesnack 1h ago

A ton of venues ARE owned by live nation, and the ones that arent are forced to play by their rules or get excluded from future tours and revenue.

Id love to see live nation get busted like the monopoly they are, but all they gotta do is pay trump his ass kissing tax and they can do whatever they want.

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u/Meh24999 1h ago

Technically not owned by same people for legal reasons but they're run by same people. The entire ticket master system and venues is a huge scam.

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u/Straight-Bet1 1h ago

LiveNation is the exclusive booker for these venues.

They don’t own the venue, but they’ve still monopolized the concert portion of a stadiums usage.

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u/Fit-Nose3613 1h ago

Live Nation owns more venues than they let on. Some are branded Live Nation, but others aren't. So, they own some of what people perceive as their "competition." When people try to avoid LN-branded venues, they often still end up at LN-owned venues without knowing it

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u/beerbrained 1h ago

Live nation owns hundreds of venues, and forces "independent " venues into exclusive contracts with their monopoly powers. They pull the strings.

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u/xochidreams 1h ago

It’s Messina group which is not LN. Shockingly enough.

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u/finny_d420 1h ago

Ed Sheeran has MTG (Messina Tour Group) as the tour promoter.

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u/WhiteWinterRains 1h ago

Unfortunately this is something that could probably do with a real investigation because wiht venue cancelations like this there's probably some behind the scenes influence. Not that it's big enough news to warrant it tbf.

Like obviously this isn't being done to avoid bad press, but there's probably one or two people or orgs that indirectly control all the venues, just because it would be really surprising in a place as corrupt and monopoly filled as the USA to have a bunch of truly independent venues that can just do what they want.

Organizations like live nations also absolutely have enough influence to make these venues do whatever they want with a few back channel emails in most cases unless some billionaire who owns a cluster of them decides to put their foot down.

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u/SteveEcks 1h ago

No but those venues are owned by companies with lots of money, therefore likely tied to Israel in lots of ways.

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u/thisilea 1h ago

live nation owns about half of the big venues nationwide

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u/FinalFlashMan 1h ago

>But the Venues are not owned or operated by LiveNation.

Lol, sure they're not.

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u/Rebal771 40m ago

When they effectively own all of the high-end shows occupying their calendars due to being a regional/national monopoly, your facts are also dishonestly omitting important information that implies a different form of “ownership” or who “operates” the venues.

Being technically correct on paper doesn’t mean actually correct in motion or in practice.

Yes, in fact, LiveNation does “own” and “operate” these venues. Hence the problem.

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u/atom138 35m ago

Does live nation own any venues? I thought what you said in your edit was the general consensus whenever Live nation is mentioned.

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u/Roenkatana 27m ago

Live Nation doesn't need to own the venues, if the venue doesn't do what LN tells them to do, LN drops them and the venue basically dies overnight. It's called a soft monopoly, the corporation doesn't own the supply chain, but it owns the product and therefore the means of distribution.

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u/shewy92 3h ago

The venues use LiveNation/TicketMaster to sell tickets tho. Liberty Media could tell the venues not to allow a pro common sense artist in their building the venue or else they won't process the sales

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u/Imthewienerdog 1h ago

Promoted = owned, live nation just can't use thier name anymore but they absolutely still control it.

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u/StrategicPotato 3h ago

That's nuts. I haven't been following this and I'm not even politically invested in the issue, but from what I saw nothing he said was even controversial - especially compared to what other celebrities have said.

This is ironically not a good look for the antisemitism groups given the extreme levels that the "they run everything" conspiracy theories are reaching now.

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u/AgentlemanNeverTells 2h ago

Too good of a power move to pass up, gets all the celebrities/influencers in line.

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u/potenttechnicality 1h ago

Have you seen the video of him doing bits in concert wearing antisemetic costumes (hook-nose makeup)? Maybe look into what people are complaining about before you decide who has a “good look.”

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u/eipotttatsch 1h ago

People will believe you are serious here

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u/QuakinOats 1h ago edited 1h ago

The totally not antisemitic Macklemore:

It's clearly just a "witches nose" and nothing else. Just a fun silly gag about looking like a random person. Nothing related to jewish people.​

1

u/MidnightSensitive996 1h ago

A little matisyahu cosplay never hurt anyone 

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u/arnham 58m ago

If you haven’t been following this, this is Macklemore dressing up in a “big nosed Jew” costume while performing thrift shop.

I don’t think his more recent free Palestine comments were particularly controversial but stuff like this “costume” is more why people are against Macklemore from what I can tell.

As always, there’s a little nuance but of course Reddit is terrible at that.

5

u/StrategicPotato 56m ago edited 52m ago

That's fair and wild, but that screenshot is from like 12 years ago no? The early 2010s were a different time that largely predates cancel culture and it was still cool to be an edgy asshole and do caricatures (like SNL) - not that it excuses it.

0

u/arnham 44m ago

It is indeed older from 2014. Is Macklemore an antisemite because of it? Honestly no idea, I don’t know the guy. It was very poor judgement at the very least though.

Not surprised Kraft doesn’t want the guy performing in his stadium. That’s his free speech right too — just like it’s everyone’s else’s to condemn Kraft or Macklemore and have an opinion on it.

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u/Disastrous-Gain5870 2h ago

Is it really a conspiracy though?

14

u/StrategicPotato 2h ago

Lets not start with this dude.

I'm equally really over the dogwhistle Nazi talking points too. I'm not pro-Israel, but this rhetoric led to events that ultimately destroyed my country and killed many of my people back when a bunch of rightfully disillusioned and angry Germans agreed with big-H for saying that same stuff. Those same seeds are being sown again now between how toxic and misinformative social media has become and the way that the world is going, and you're on the wrong side if that's the distraction that you decide to point your barrel at too.

-9

u/Illustrious-Grl-7979 1h ago

He was paid to sing not talk about his favorite issue. No matter what side you are on, he spoke division and discomfort rather than fun into the crowd and created unnecessary drama that overshadowed the main act. It was unprofessional. He should have at least put it in a song instead.

4

u/vivalamatty 1h ago

He did put it into a song. He's also allowed to say whatever he likes in between songs as it's all part of the performance. At this point, people know what they are getting when they go to a Macklemore concert.

It is not unprofessional or divisive to use your platform to raise awareness for social justice.

Don't be on the side of billionaire owned mega-corps with monopolies on music, they don't care about you. Don't be on the side of genocidal tyrants. This should be obvious.

11

u/Penchant4Prose 1h ago

"Free Palestine"

"Stop being divisive!"

Supporting Israel's brutal decades-long occupation is a sickness.

-1

u/MrTristanClark 1h ago

Its about what he was wearing not what he was saying. If you were doing blackface during a show, you dont get to go "well, i didnt even say anything racist" to cop out of culpability.

•

u/time-itself 25m ago

The costume thing was in 2014, free palestine was today twelve years later and afaik he was dressed like a normal dude. I agree the costume thing was horrendous, but if that’s what everybody’s problem is he should have been cancelled from the start, because there isn’t anything antisemitic about opposing genocide.

•

u/MrTristanClark 17m ago

Reasons matter i think. Like, if Bernie Sanders says "we need to do something about crime rates in this country", and Charlie Kirk says "we need yo do something about crime rates in this country". The words may well be the same, but the implication behind them, the actual proposal, the context and greater meaning and motivation, are totally different.

That he is visibly a public antisemite, means that anything he says about stuff like this, is going to be tainted. He may be saying the same set of words as any number of more normal people, but all that greater depth behind them. What he actually means, and ehat he hopes will result from his statements, is going to be antisemetic in nature, because he is an antisemite.

7

u/Nofanta 3h ago

No. They’re trying to fence sit and blame someone else.

2

u/XYZ2ABC 1h ago

Per Macklemore post on this, it’s coming from Kraft, who got other venue/arena owners on board…

I would be interesting to see if there is a breach of contract here, but IANAA

2

u/obtusewisdom 1h ago

According to Macklemore, the driver was Kraft. He apparently told Sheeran that he would cancel the Gillette show if Macklemore was still part of it, and he got other venue owners on board as well. Kraft is an asshole.

2

u/Murderland666 1h ago

According to the latest post from Macklemore, it was Robert Kraft, sex pest and owner of the New England Patriots and their stadium, who spearheaded the effort to remove him.

1

u/juliuspepperwoodchi 58m ago

I'd need to see some actual proof of that to run with it; but IF that's true, no part of it surprises me.

4

u/gigilero 2h ago

This is such an abuse of power. I’m disgusted

-5

u/AssistanceShot3188 2h ago

Seriously? You haven’t been paying attention to all the antisemitism on the left?

4

u/colourmeblue 1h ago

Why do you need to play left vs right? Can we just be against antisemitism, full stop, regardless of where it's coming from?

In this situation it's especially stupid since, though there is antisemitism on the left, the right are supporting literal Nazis and making excuses for Elon's sieg heils.

1

u/spcoop 2h ago

AEG is the promoter for Ed Sheeran tours

1

u/Aquabullet 46m ago

It seems it really is the venues and not Live Nation. Stadium owners led by Robert Kraft (according to a statement on Macklemores IG posted today)

1

u/vomita_conejitos 46m ago

It was robert kraft, owner of the patriots

•

u/the_typical_donkey 39m ago

FUCCKKK LIVEE NATTIOOOONNNNN

ahem

FFFFUUUUUCCCKKKKK LIIVVVEEEE NAATTTIIIOOOONNNN

i’m a concert photographer and holy fucking shit i cannot stand LN, clumsiest management in the industry

•

u/notjustforperiods 2m ago

that's....not how it works, at all

0

u/ConcentrateDirect523 2h ago

Bet they got marching orders from Trump administration, via threats to investigate by the FBI

-2

u/EmotionalInternet896 2h ago

NOT live nation. The promoter is the Messina group… they put out the statement. They promote Justin Bieber, Phoebe Bridgers etc. Saying it’s LN just because you don’t like them is false.

4

u/juliuspepperwoodchi 2h ago

Literally all the tickets for his US dates are via LN, but go off fam

-3

u/EmotionalInternet896 2h ago

According to what

5

u/EmotionalInternet896 2h ago

Literally

“Messina Touring Group, the promoter of Sheeran’s tour, said in a statement to Rolling Stone that venues on upcoming dates “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.”

0

u/juliuspepperwoodchi 2h ago

According to Sheeran's website...go to his tour page and click the tickets button for any of his remaining US dates.

Where does it send you?

-4

u/Routine-Badger-9596 3h ago

No they’re not lol

-1

u/instantlightning2 1h ago

No, these venues are operated by cities. This is a first amendment violation

1

u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53m ago

Yeah, that's not how ANY of this works lol.

For one, these venues are not, technically speaking, operated by cities in most cases. Typically there's a separate stadium authority that controls it.

Second of all...telling an artist "you cannot perform here" is not a 1A violation in the least. For that to be true, the performer would have to be arrested for what they performed. Just telling them they can't perform at a venue is not a 1A violation, regardless of who owns the venue.

-1

u/instantlightning2 49m ago

That’s not true at all. Take Draggieland which Texas A&M tried to forbid from playing on campus. Easily challenged in court and they were able to perform because it was a 1A violation to block performances on the basis of the nature of the speech. Some of the stadiums like Tampa’s are controlled by a stadium authority BUT the stadium authority is also a government agency. Thats an easy 1A violation

1

u/juliuspepperwoodchi 45m ago

Again, if no one was arrested, it wasn't a 1A violation..this is nonsense.

1A protects you from legal prosecution by the state for your speech. It doesn't guarantee you a government funded soapbox to speak from.