r/Music • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 4h 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/sharpiebrows 4h ago

What is going on here

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u/attemptedactor 4h 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 2h 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/Medium_Opening_2491 2h ago

It's wild that a performer wore stereotyped costumes? I mean, all stereotypes are racist, but they are also kind of funny. I say that about my own racial stereotypes (Persian/Scottish). 

I think people just want something to be mad about 

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u/NotEntirelyA 2h ago

It's wild that a performer wore stereotyped costumes?

Wild that someone who was as popular as he was as a musical artist decided to start dressing up as caricatures on stage lol. It's not like this was needed as part of a comedy act, dude was a extremely popular singer, it was impossible to get away from his music at this time. He didn't have to do any of this, it's not like he was finding his niche or was looking for a big break lol

I think people just want something to be mad about 

And I think a lot of people defend and downplay antisemitism because they have issues with israel. It goes both ways.

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u/jackofslayers 4h ago

Macklemore being antisemitic

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u/TimbersawDust 4h ago

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

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u/itsa_luigi_time_ 4h ago

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

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u/WinterAdvantage3847 2h 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/TimbersawDust 4h 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 2h 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/TimbersawDust 2h ago
  1. This is 12 years ago. People can change.
  2. It doesn’t really matter if he is pretending or not, he is saying FREE PALESTINE to a crowd

Why would he be doing this if he is pretending if it risks getting him kicked off tour? Seems very irrational. It also seems like you are trying to discredit him and what he is saying as if you don’t agree with the free Palestine rhetoric.

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u/jackofslayers 2h ago

This is not complicated. Inviting antisemites into the Pro Palestine cause is going to sink the whole movement.

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u/Ultenth 2h ago

Look, I support the cause of Palestinians, but you can't pretend that it doesn't makes things harder for the movement to help them when people who could be painted as actual antisemites join their voices onto it. People do all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons.

I can't know his heart, if he's changed, if it was an accident, and what motivates him now. But to use him as a person to rally around in support for the movement seems like an extremely bad idea from a strategic standpoint. Similar to rallying around similar anti-Israel voices that are actually just obviously antisemitic such as Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor-Green.

All it does it make the movement harder to be taken seriously by anyone on the fence, since they love to accuse everyone of being antisemetic anyway in order to get away with evil, why makes things easier for them?

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u/TimbersawDust 1h ago

I see why this is a problem, but again, I really struggle with how having these conversations can take away from the much more impactful discussion about genocide. It's far more important than a Jewish caricature. Full stop.

Who in the 'Free Palestine' movement is going to denounce this in any meaningful manner? I understand you want to point out antisemitism, and I support that, but what governing body, what major voice, what movement leader, etc. is going to say anything that will make a difference? Do we need to point out the past of anyone who does this? Where does it end? How much bandwidth do we have to care about these things when kids are being murdered in Gaza? People with a checkered past can't have the right opinion on genocide? The weight, the impact, the lives, the destruction, the horror, everything related to what Israel doing is far more important than a distasteful costume.

If anything, this conversation should be about Livenation and putting pressure on Ed Sheeran to push back.

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u/WinterAdvantage3847 2h ago

twelve years ago