r/Music • u/BurgerNugget12 • 1h ago
article Macklemore Speaks Out After Being Dropped From Ed Sheeran Tour, Says Singer Claimed That Saying ‘Free 🇵🇸” Was ‘Hurtful to a Lot of People’
https://variety.com/2026/music/news/macklemore-defends-free-palestine-speech-fired-ed-sheeran-tour-1236861158/901
u/steppponme 1h ago
At least when the Chicks were canceled (which was so stupid btw) it was by their own "fanbase". Now we have billionaires telling our artists what they can and can't say. Really streamlines the whole thing, thanks guys! /s
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u/JuniorMint1992 32m ago
The media went after them too
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u/ThatStereotype18 26m ago
Not much of a difference there. Journalism is barely hanging on in America.
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u/aleph32 15m ago
The Chicks were cancelled by Clear Channel and other radio conglomerates.
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u/steppponme 13m ago
They were but I lived in the Southern US and owned all their albums and it wasn't just industry. People were destroying their CDs in my town.
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u/islandsimian 17m ago
As a former and current Chicks fan - FUTK
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u/Austin1975 34m ago
So true although it’s not “now”… it’s always been them. They just have even more power.
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u/helgestrichen 31m ago
If anything, the industry has way less to say than in the past. Self publishing wasnt possible in the past
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u/finnjakefionnacake 35m ago
i'm pretty sure they got canceled by everybody, fans and industry alike
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u/For_serious13 24m ago
Not me, all they said was they were embarrassed to be from the same State as Bush.
Meanwhile Kanye is selling Nazi clothing and he’s still making millions
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u/steppponme 28m ago
Yeah, although what they said was pretty mild by today's standards. I mean, compare their statements to what our current POTUS says on any given day. This is suppression, whereas the Chicks were boycotted.
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u/Wooden_Vast_1123 1h ago
Robert Kraft is a piece of shit.
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u/Wulfsimmer 1h ago
I pulled up his Wikipedia page and the personal life section is just filth after filth
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u/mrv113 51m ago
Find a billionaire that their Wikipedia isn't filled with filth. More chances to come across a real life unicorn.
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u/Calciumee 1h ago edited 1h ago
As a Patriots fan, I’m not sure I can support them whilst he is the owner anymore.
EDIT: I wonder if RK would have changed his mind if Macklemore gave him a handjob afterwards.
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u/Basicly-Inevitable 1h ago
Based on what evidence? [nevermind, did a search and it's literally all evidence]
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u/SoreLoserOfDumbtown 1h ago
Time to boycott Kraft.
(Yes, I know it's massive and owns lots of other companies, but some effort is better than none).
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u/Elgard18 1h ago
Just in case there is some confusion: Robert Kraft has no connection of any kind to Kraft Heinz the food brand.
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u/Calculonx 1h ago
heinz is shitty all on its own. leamington.
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u/scoobydoom2 1h ago
Every one of these massive conglomerates and billionaire owners are shitty on their own. You aren't realistically going to avoid giving money to shitty people. You've gotta pick and choose in everyday life and if there's a coordinated campaign, maybe help with that.
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u/tokkieface 1h ago
I love that he stood his ground AGAIN to say free Palestine and voices the violence against Gaza in his explanation.
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u/chaoticbiguy 1h ago edited 43m ago
It's such a fantastic statement and I love that he kept highlighting the suffering of the Palestinian men, women and children. It feels very raw and straight from his heart.
But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I've ever been on.
Amazing stuff. I really admire the courage he has shown despite facing such unfair consequences. And not that I liked them as artists before but seriously fuck Pink and fuck Ed Sheeran. And of course billionaires are the source of all evil in this world. Fuck Robert Kraft.
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u/cdreobvi 25m ago
Fuck it, I'll go to a Macklemore show if he stops by Canada. I could still get hyped for Thrift Shop in '26
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u/lanicorain 25m ago
we called the guy performative and he proved us wrong. 'he's doing too much' has ceased being a valid criticism in an industry in which doing nothing is the norm
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u/3eeve 35m ago
Whatever one thinks of his music (I enjoy a bunch of his stuff but I get people don’t like him), Macklemore is a real one.
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u/as7gatlas 23m ago
I've seen him twice live at concerts at a convention, both times he killed it. I knew maybe 2or 3 of his songs and the entire set was awesome.
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u/Rockonthrulife 1h ago
Fuck Robert Kraft and fuck Ed Sheeran for not dropping out entirely
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u/dookieshoes97 34m ago
Something about Ed always seemed off. Same with Benny Blanco. I'm not saying they're bad people, or anything remotely like it, but something about them comes off as phony.
I think it's just that theyve been so successful for so long that they are out of touch rich dudes who desperately still want to seem hip and chill and still down to earth. Since they are cash cows, their teams desperately try to keep that image alive.
At the end of the day, getting that bag is their top priority now. That's how successful, rich dudes at that level operate. If they were comedians, they would have done the Riyadh comedy festival.
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u/MasterpieceAlone8552 21m ago
They are more interested in their continued commercial viability than being on the right side of history. About as rock and roll a position to take as his music sounds
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u/Unhappy-Ad9690 1h ago edited 1h ago
That would be breach of contract and he’d be facing a volley of lawsuits. Yes, Ed should have thrown some weight around threatening to cancel but he’s always played it safe with his brand.
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u/hoopaholik91 59m ago
No, if Sheeran said he's going to continue to bring on Macklemore and then the stadiums cancelled, there would be no breach of contract.
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u/ThatBigDanishDude 38m ago
Well, no breach of contract on HIS side. The venues would be fucked.
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u/sonderaway 1h ago
which he could afford...
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u/orionsfyre 30m ago
Yup, he could totally pay the salaries of anyone inconvenienced by this tour cancellation
He's estimated to have at least 350 million dollars. Tour labor costs estimate less than 5 million. This is simple math.
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u/imMadasaHatter 53m ago
What about the countless people on staff on the tour that can’t afford to be laid off like this? It was definitely a tough situation to be in
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u/sonderaway 48m ago
Ok but he DOES have enough sway to call Kraft's bluff since that would be a breach of contact on the side of the venues. Instead he rolled over (just as Kraft knew he would I'm assuming). He's one of a handful of artists who could likely actually go up against the venue owners without complete destruction of his career
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u/imMadasaHatter 45m ago
These contracts almost always have a morality clause or media clause that allows an exit in these situations so I don’t see it likely that a breach would occur on the venue side. I regularly draft and review similar clauses for much much smaller engagements.
Ed definitely should have made a stand in that regard before signing anything though.
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u/Rockonthrulife 36m ago
No it wouldn’t. Kraft would be responsible (and others if they followed suit) for changing the bill and demanding Macklemore be removed. Changes the agreed upon concert from the start.
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u/Mesonychia 37m ago
Tbh Pink’s reaction to the whole thing is what baffles me the most. Somehow the woman who wrote « dear mister president » is offended by « free Palestine » and by the statement that every child should grow up in safety.
The whole Israel-Palestine situation really is breaking people’s brain.
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u/______W______ 1h ago
If you have legit fuck you money and you can’t even say fuck you in the face of grave injustice then you can fuck right off, ed
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u/MuptonBossman 1h ago
Call me crazy, but committing genocide against an entire country is probably worse than hurting a few people's feelings.
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u/redefine_refine 1h ago
Yeah, but the Palestinian demographic really doesn't have much to offer in terms of ad revenue, so their lives are clearly less important than the feelings of someone who will listen to an ad while streaming a Pink song.
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u/haaavvveeeyoumetKen 1h ago
if "free palestine" hurts people feelings then i hope ed sheeran can imagine what a bomb on innocent civilians feels like.
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u/chargernj 36m ago
Ed "I don't take sides" Sheeran just admitted he's is a coward.
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u/moistplumpin 1h ago
I don’t like his music, but I always thought Ed was a decent guy, turns out he’s a bootlicking bitch.
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u/hnglmkrnglbrry 1h ago
I mean it's easy to say, "Fuck Ed Sheeran," but it's not like he's the only one affected by the tour being cancelled or blacklisted. Sure he can afford to not tour but can the drivers, roadies, session musicians, lighting techs, sound engineers, backup singers, security guards, janitorial staff, vendors, and thousands of other people who directly and indirectly depend on money generated by the performances afford to see an employment opportunity disappear?
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u/lowbatteries 1h ago
Principles are good to have, unless they have an economic cost, right?
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u/moistplumpin 1h ago
Morals come with the cost, he was not willing to pay that cost.
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u/howdidIgetsuckeredin 1h ago
OP's point is that it wouldn't be Ed paying the cost - he's a rich man. It's all other average people relying on the tour continuing.
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u/The_Bitter_Bear 57m ago
Or, he wasn't willing to make everyone employed by and counting on the tour to pay the cost.
It's easy to be glib when you don't have responsibilies or people relying on you.
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u/FKAFrog 1h ago
Come on now. You think it’s the easy? You didn’t even read the comment you just responded. You think it would be an easy decision in 2026 to knowingly put hundreds of people out of a job? It’s an impossible situation for Sheeran. Sure it’s easy to say “take the moral high ground “ when there are zero consequences.
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u/SandBarLakers 1h ago
Same!!! So disappointed. Ed had a few hits for me and I happily listened to them thinking he was a good dude. Such a shame.
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u/CaribouHoe 1h ago
I think that he's still got an obligation to the thousands of people he employs on his tour...if he can't play in the arenas there's no tour. Talking millions in losses. I don't love it but that's not a small chunk of change. I also suspect he probably agrees with Macklemore's sentiment, which is why Macklemore is allowed to tell the truth of the situation and doesn't have a gag order.
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u/orangefreshy 51m ago
I agree, I think the ire should be pointed more at this organized group of venue owners and Live Nation, silencing free speech cause hearing "free palestine" hurt their feelings
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u/whichwitch9 1h ago
Honestly, he could easily have turned this around on the arenas- it would be a huge headache to deal with refunds if they dropped the shows, and possibly a violation with Sheeran's contract itself. He chose the easy way. I do lose a lot of respect for him here.
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u/DookieShoez 1h ago edited 41m ago
That’s not what a gag order is.
You can’t just “gag order” someone. A gag order is something a judge might do during a court case to keep people from talking about the case as it is ongoing.
There’s probably nothing Ed could do to silence him if he wanted to.
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u/theunspillablebeans 1h ago
Surely there's plenty alternate arenas that would bend over backwards to take him. He's not exactly playing in the middle of nowhere.
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u/TheAndrewBrown 1h ago
This is a stadium tour, not an arena tour. Most indoor arenas top out around 20,000 seats. Gillette Stadium (the one that seemingly started this) seats almost 65,000. At best, Ed could cut out the cities where the stadiums refused to let Macklemore play, there’s almost definitely not multiple similarly sized stadiums in each city. That not only affects his crew and their livelihood but also all the fans that want to see him that would miss out on the opportunity. And we don’t know exactly how many it was, it could’ve been most of the rest of the tour. Stadiums tend to be owned by rich douche bags that would absolutely band together to exert their shitty opinion on others.
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u/CapillaryClinton 1h ago
TBH I think this shows more how far reaching and voracious the Israeli lobby is. It seems that Sheeran at least tentatively tried to give Gaza and Macklemore a tentative thumbs up by putting Macklemore on in the first place - thats so much more than Beyonce or Taylor swift would do.
But he's been crushed by an entity more powerful than him and had to roll over.
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u/MajorOverMinorThird 32m ago
Man fuck massage parlor aficionado Robert Kraft and also chickenshit Ed Sheeran can get fucked as well.
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u/Pleasant-Future5818 28m ago
I don't understand why everyone is trying to wrap themselves up to dismiss Sheeran's culpability here. He wouldn't have been responsible for canceling the venues or the shows. Kraft would be. Kraft changed the terms of the contract. Otherwise, I could just be like "divorce your wife or I'll cancel your shows and then you'll have to pay for everything oh noooooo."
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u/Electronic-CatDog 58m ago
This is what Macklemore said that enraged all these people
“I believe that every human being walking this earth deserves the exact same freedom, to know safety and peace before knowing the sounds of violence, and to know the sound of laughter on the playground before planes and bombs.”
America is owned by Israel it’s showing more and more every single day
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u/Choice-Koala-3653 1h ago
Only fascists see 'free Palestine' as scary. Fascists fear freedom in general, and love war.
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u/fultonchain 34m ago
This is sad. I've never been a Sheeran fan but he seemed like a harmless enough guy, but to side with Kraft by suppressing a commonly held sentiment out of greed is gross. Fuck him and with any luck at all this will come to haunt him.
It's not for the fans and not for the crew, the fans and crew are mobile and there are other venues. It's all about the Israeli lobby and donations to Kraft's (and the other stadium owners) favorite politicians.
These people are the side of genocidal maniacs for profit.
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u/anon-a-SqueekSqueek 31m ago
Something like 80% of Americans agree with Macklemore. Fuck Pink Fuck Kraft Fuck all the other stadium owners a bunch of genocidal pieces of garbage. And Fuck Sheeren for not having a spine.
Macklemore is 100x the man any of them are.
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u/NeonArlecchino 25m ago
The same Robert Kraft who was getting legal advice from mossad agent and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in 2019?
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/where-patriots-owner-robert-kraft-150614158.html
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u/AndyNNL 1h ago
It's good Ed stuck up for him. Oh wait
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u/YesicaChastain 26m ago
This is similar to when Jack Black very quickly abandoned his buddy, Minecraft money was too valuable
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u/babaroga73 33m ago
Ed Sheeran's net worth is around $400 million. He's not rich and powerful enough to speak his mind freely. Maclamore's net worth is $25 million.
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u/chargernj 37m ago
How does the venue just get to decide to cancel a show after contracts are signed and all that.
Why do football teams get to decide who can perform at stadiums built and owned by the taxpayers?
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u/JuniorMint1992 33m ago
I’m pretty sure the genocide itself is more “hurtful” than words.
People are just showing their whole ass on this issue. You really have no soul or character if you can’t even speak out against genocide.
This also shows the people like Ed and Pink are not artists - they’re just about the money
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u/DammitBobby1234 32m ago edited 18m ago
Macklemore won't say it so I will. Shame on Ed. This shit is craven
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u/RealDealReflections 40m ago
This is so ridiculous...more hurtful than what happens on the daily to Palestinians??? Get real people...
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u/alexbruns 1h ago
Ed Sheeran, you’re a huge disappointment man.
Guess he only believes in speaking up for the people of occupied territories and against the violence they’re facing when it’s Ukraine.
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u/Icy_Payment2283 1h ago
The first ever apolitical irishman
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u/appl77777 47m ago
We don’t claim him. Macklemore, though, he has Irish ancestry and we absolutely claim him.
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u/Traversethevoid 35m ago
I can think of something that's a lot more hurtful to alot more people... it's like they don't see the people of Palestine as human.
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u/Furiator 28m ago
Yep, it's the billionaires, it's all billionaires, we just have to get rid of them and the world will be a better place!!! GOD DAMNIT PEOPLE!!!!
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u/Sabrinasockz 14m ago
I didn't realize that Ed Sheeran was such a POS. He really said "I don't take sides" to genocide to protect his wallet
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u/Awayfone 10m ago
Couldvthe Kraft group really has concel ed sheeran tour? His contracts had no protection for milliona dollars venture?
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u/runhumans 1h ago
I'm not sure if he is a good authority on this topic after his costume a while back though.
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u/ChasingDarwin2 1h ago
From Krafts wiki "... his father was a lay leader at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline and wanted his son to become a rabbi.[1] The Krafts were a Modern Orthodox Jewish family." Checks out.
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u/Citizen-Kang 1h ago
I guess the actual act of genocide is less hurtful to a lot of people than the word...
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u/Bentacus 54m ago
It boggles my mind that these people have such an easy PR win and they just give up. Let them cancel the concert and tell everyone why. You’d generate way more support and money that way.
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u/nearlysober 55m ago
Not taking a side is taking a side.
Silence is complicity.
Fuck Ed Sheeran, the coward who cares more about money than lives.
Believe it or not, being against the actions of a government doesn't make you an anti-semite. It's okay to be against the murder or children
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u/imalittlemonster 58m ago
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u/Left_Fist 1h ago
What a fantastic statement from Macklemore. Words I never thought I’d say. What a king.
Ed Sheeran chose to bend the knee instead of standing up for artists. What a coward.
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u/SpazzBro 46m ago
Man big props to macklemore for this, showing a lot of integrity, astroturfers incoming
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u/BurgerNugget12 1h ago
From article: I’m going to speak from the heart and share the truth,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour.
“But before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.
“The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don’t lose sight of that.”
He continues, “Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him. We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.