Rapper Macklemore is a vocal supporter of Palestine and Gaza residents. During a recent concert at MetLife Stadium, he yelled “Free Palestine!” onstage, projected images of devastation in the area, and performed protest song “Hind’s Hall.”
Now, it seems that American venues are not willing to play ball with the Seattle artist, and he has been dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour.
“After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates,” according to Messina Touring Group, the promoter of Loop Tour. This news follows backlash from organizations like StopAntisemitism and others, such as pop star Pink.
Speaking up for Palestine isn’t antisemitism.
Saying that Israel is a genocidal country isn’t antisemitism either.
Given that the Palestinian people are Semitic people themselves, I would say that systematically destroying their lives, homes, and culture is more antisemitic than any combination of words that any person could ever string together.
There are no “semitic people”. It’s a racist term coined by some German dude ages ago and it has no scientific value at all. Stop making antisemitism about Palestinians.
This is true, although, I’m not sure what you mean by that last part.
The term anti-Semitic itself is racist as there are no people of “Shem”. The concept is a weird mashup of those native to the Levant and those who follow the Jewish religion or culture. Anti-Jewish would be a way better descriptor over antisemitic, but Zionists love the term antisemitic as it creates a false impression that their enthonational religious claims over the Levant are historically founded over the native Palestinian population.
It’s simply a term that’s historically developed because some German assholes called themselves “Antisemiten”. The term “racism” is equally flawed as it implies the existence of human races.
From what I understand, that flaw can be lessened (not voided) by using sociology instead of eugenics/pseudobiology. So-called “races” as social constructs, or “perceived races” are less based on discrimination. This concepts can instead describe the existing discrimination. That does not nullify your point, by the way, it just dampens the flaw you pointed to.
It also plays into the whole “the holocaust was so special that it may never be put in comparison to genocides we commit today or in the future”.
I think it’s more about shining a light on the stupidity of it all?
If there are no Semitic people, then there are no Palestinians.
Ignorant comment. “Semitic people” is in the same intellectual genealogy as “Aryan people”, the terms were proposed as opposites. There are semitic languages and the term “aryan languages” is not entirely discredited (it appears as “Indo-Aryan” and refers to a subfamily of Indo-European languages). But nothing about any of this has to do with the existence of the Palestinian people and nation which is a political fact regardless of biological or linguistic lineages.
It all boils down to race talk eventually, no matter what intellectual gymnastics you perform. One label is as good as another in that game. Arabs learned well from Hilter’s ideas after WW2. Whether you want to discuss the “people of Palestine” or “the Palestinian People”, then Jews, Christians, Moslems, Turks, Babylonians (and their descendents…), Romans from the Italian peninsula, Greeks, Western Europeans from the middle ages… all must be considered in the mix and none excluded for any reason. All have either lived or owned/possessed the land for centuries, across various eras in history.
That’s a load of 19th century bullshit. The Palestinians are a People because they share a series of attributes (language, kinship, culture, common historical narratives and a shared political national project) and use those shared attributes to self identify as a People. That’s it, none of the other crap.
and use those shared attributes to self identify as a People.
Go ahead, create your own delusional thought bubble and language that supports it.
if the rest of the world doesn’t see it your way then it still avails you nothing.
consider the example of ISIL for recent insights on how this will end for those who engage in creating imaginary worlds for themselves… inside of thought bubbles .
Genetic testing has shown that the Palestinians are, by and large, Canaanites.
They are by default a semitic people.
StopAntisemitism criticised the rapper, saying “Jewish fans bought tickets to see Ed Sheeran sing… not to be ambushed by Macklemore’s anti-Israel propaganda.”
The next night, Macklemore returned to the same stage and directly addressed his “Jewish brothers and sisters” in the audience.
“Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, is in no way a criticism of you,”
Stokeholders?
The stakeholder has a name.
Macklemore has been dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour after he says New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft organized a boycott among stadium owners over the rapper’s remarks in support of Palestinians.
Awful nice of the corporate media outlet to hide the name of one side while blasting the other.
I’m surprised Bobby Kraft wasn’t too busy getting a rub ‘n tug from a massage joint
I don’t know how they could plead not guilty when they have video footage of him getting tugged and blown on two separate occasions, they recorded his car and plate and did a ruse traffic stop on him to get him to provide his ID to an officer in the car
We live in a oligarchy and he’s a billionaire. Also the population has the working memory of a gnat and have no concept of boycotting anything. Especially if it could cause the slightest inconvenience.
The cops were locked in 100% that it was trafficking until the billionaire was caught in the web then it was all misunderstandings and mistakes. And no, it’s not conspiracy that the ladies all got enough money to not talk. A fucking billionaire doesn’t go to jail because our society would rather lick their feet.
He was expecting to have his shit nepo child running the city of Boston and building him a stadium. Sine he obviously lost kraft needs to spend his free time doing something since his best buddy epstine isn’t around to keep him busy with unfettered access to poor people’s kids.
Fuck Robert Kraft and his cock-puppet, Ed Sheeran.
Fuck ed sheeran
But first the Kraft group, it’s easy to shift the anger to Ed, but you can’t force anyone to pick a side when they don’t want to get involved, He was planning his tour with cool musicians, hoping to maximize his target audience.
It shouldn’t be the case, but taking a stand in the US now makes you lose half of your pie, He invited Maclemore and was able to perform in a couple of show and now people talking about this might increase the numbers of people talking about Palestine.
The Kraft group was the one requesting for Maclemore to be excluded from the tour, and they should be answering those ‘Fuck you’
Yeah, but he didn’t answer “Fuck you” did he? He replied “Yes Sir, right away Sir.” He was “just following orders”.
Where have I heard that before.
Absolutely and He would have to face the consequences of that choice, but for each Fuck you Robert Kraft, they are like 200 Fuck you Ed Sheeran.
I’m not saying Ed should get a free pass, but people should be boycotting the Kraft Group first
Fair
Kraft should be forced to sell the team and deported to Israel. He can buy a soccer team there and the idf can jerk him off like he likes while wearing their victims dresses like they like to do.
Ed Sheeran here had a chance to be a hero to everyone who believes in humanity and human rights. He could have cancelled the tour for all the venues being explicitly pro-genocide and moved the concerts to other venues in the area. He would have made less money, yes. It would cost him a few fans, but he would’ve gained so many mlre. Instead he caved like a building built out of cotton candy in a short rain shower. And now I’ve sanitized my playlists from p!NK and Ed Sheeran music, these two have shown themselves to have no values. P!NK being the worst by far by actively picking the side of the oppressor. I’m done with her. Fuck Israel. Free Palestine one hundred times!
Thank GOD these Venues are going after ANTI SEMETISM by going after artists who
Have songs LITERALLY PRAISING HITLER!say Bombing Children is WRONG!Yeah, the fact that one of the venues refusing Macklemore just let Kanye West play two shows is straight-up hypocrisy.
Only one of those guys has made public statements praising Hitler. (As far as I know, at least.)
It’s not hypocrisy, they are consistent in their horrible values and ideology.
Ed Sheeran could have done the better thing and used his platform for good hadn’t he been a spineless coward.
What a spineless, snivelling Zionist bootlicker Ed Sheeran turned out to be.
Sorry Ed, but there’s no such thing as being “apolitical” anymore. Willingness to ignore the current reality is a political statement in and of itself, and a terrible one at that. If you aren’t willing to seize this moment and stand up for what is right, you can go the fuck away.
I get that it wasn’t his decision whether or not Macklemore got booted, but it was his choice not to go down with the anti-genocide ship, and he did so because he doesn’t want to lose the pro-genocide cash.
Apolitical is just a conservative who doesn’t have the balls to say they’re a conservative.
Being apolitical in a democracy is in itself a paradox at best and a clear sign of hipocrasy at worst.
A society that requires citizen participation in governance and one chooses to be ignorant? Absurd.
At the moment macklemore only has a single performance lined up. But maybe we should put our money where our outrage is and keep an eye on https://macklemore.com/shows/
Kudos to Macklemore, and for shame to Sheeran
I’m eagerly awaiting the free speech defenders of the right to take up this cause!
“Free Speech” was only ever about screaming the N-word in the middle of your State Uni quad, while wearing your Red Cap and waving an American Flag.
You won’t find them here on Lemmy lol
That’s why I like this place so much. We’re all crazy and fight with each other all the time, but unlike other platforms like YouTube and Reddit, at least here we can all agree that human beings deserve basic rights! (for the most part lol)
at least here we can all agree that human beings deserve basic rights!
until they reveal themselves to be a fascist, of course, for example by endorsing a democratic candidate for US president
Yes, Kamala voters in the US are truly the most vicitimized people in the world today
Money is classified as free speech.
Robert Kraft is using his free speech to bribe Ed into censoring his friend and supporting artist.
Macklemore the goat!
Been going back through and listening to a lot of rap from early 2010s, and I forgot how wonderful and outspoken a lot of them are. Lupe was speaking out against the bombings in gaza since Obama was in office.
TL;DR Ed Sheeran is a fascist.
Woah woah that’s a bit harsh.
I would say Ed is a subhuman invertebrate ghoul who has somehow been cynically shitting out lobotomized slop-pop since 2012, and is now limply capitulating to the whims of his pedofaschist handlers. Least surprising heel turn of the century.
People on Lemmy suck, Internet … never change
Macklemore explained that the decision came after a week of “difficult conversations” with Sheeran, a friend of 13 years whom he considers a “brother”, though “as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.” According to Macklemore, Sheeran was under pressure from stadium owners rallied by Robert Kraft – the owner of the New England Patriots and their Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Sheeran was next slated to play – to drop Macklemore from the tour, lest the English singer be barred from their venues. “Ed was in a fucked up position,” the rapper wrote. “He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it had never been before.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/sep/14/macklemore-dropped-ed-sheeran-tour-free-palestine
This Kraft dude seems like a stand-up guy.
In 2019, Kraft was among 25 people facing first-degree misdemeanor charges for soliciting prostitution at a day spa. His attorney electronically entered a not-guilty plea, and later submitted a court filing where Kraft waived arraignment, pled not guilty to all charges and requested a jury trial.
In 2026, it was revealed that Kraft had kept a relationship with child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and that Epstein had recommended Kraft use his lawyer to defeat the charges.
Of course this Epstein class cunt is doing this shit
People in New England have despised Kraft long before the rest of the country, like New Yorkers and trump
I think Ed Sheeran is a big enough deal that the stadiums would lose out more than he would if he called their bluff, and they’d likely cave. They’re not going to be able to book another artist for dates that soon that will sell comparable numbers of seats.
Ed should provide the same message at Kraft’s stadium that Macklemore made.
Sheeran has enough influence to change this, if he actually cared.
The fact that he hasn’t shows that he doesn’t. It’s his tour, it’s his decision.
Sheeran chose a side
if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice
In other words, claiming to be “apolitical” (whatever that means) is a political stance.
Classy statement. Left unsaid but there for all to see, “my brother didn’t have my back”.
It’s endlessly surprising to see who among the already famous are going be on the right side of history. I love Macklemore now. And Dua, and the too-small group of other high profile artists who are speaking up even though there is a cost.
I wasn’t about to read but that’s a great excerpt, especially since I know just how much of a piece of shit Robert Kraft is and is good to know he’s the real evil here.
I don’t have a very high opinion of Ed Sheeran, but if anything I’m surprised a little by Macklemore’s conviction here. It’s not so much that Sheeran is a spineless coward (I mean, he kinda is but at least I see why), but that Macklemore is… kinda badass for speaking up. I had a meh opinion of him too but it’s moved up a little.
they won’t let you stay in the middle forever. it’s not a safe pick they’re trying to push everyone off the fence all the time it’s a key element of extremism.
His typical apolitical stance
No such thing as neutrality, he’s just taking the side of the oppressor.
