The rapper Macklemore has been dropped as an opening act from Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour after he said “Free Palestine” onstage before performing a protest song at two concerts this month.
Macklemore, whose 2012 hit “Thrift Shop,” released with his former producer Ryan Lewis, helped the duo win four Grammy Awards, performed on Sheeran’s tour at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sept. 4 and 5.
“I wanted to stand up on here on stages and stadiums across America,” he said on the second night, “and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine.”
At the concert, Macklemore performed “Hind’s Hall,” his 2024 protest song against the war in Gaza, which began after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. In the song, Macklemore described Israel’s destruction in Gaza as a “genocide.” He also showed the track’s music video, which includes scenes from Gaza and student protests in the United States. “You can ban TikTok, take us out the algorithm,” he raps. “But it’s too late, we’ve seen the truth, we bear witness.”
Macklemore immediately came under criticism, including from the Anti-Defamation League and the group StopAntisemitism.
The Israeli-American Council published a petition online calling on Sheeran and the venues hosting his tour to drop Macklemore, saying that Macklemore had used “selective imagery, biased messaging and disputed claims.” The petition added, “Keep Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour about music — not political propaganda.”
Macklemore and the Messina Touring Group, the promoter of Sheeran’s tour, confirmed in statements on Monday that he had been removed from the tour.
In a statement posted online, Macklemore said that Robert Kraft, whose company owns the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium outside of Boston, where the tour is set to play, had been instrumental in his removal.
Macklemore said that last week, as controversy spread over his statements, Sheeran told him that Kraft had said Macklemore “would not be able to perform in his stadium.”
“Ed also told me,” Macklemore continued, “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.”
In a statement, Kraft acknowledged that he decided Macklemore could not perform at Gillette, based on his appearance on Sheeran’s tour “and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.”
“I agree with Macklemore,” Kraft added. “Too many lives have been lost and there has been too much suffering, but only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only advances more divisiveness and hate.”
Kraft did not address whether he spoke to other venue owners. Representatives for Sheeran did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Support for Palestinians in Gaza and criticism of Israel for its military operations there since the Oct. 7 attack have become a lightning rod in pop music.
Last year, the punk-rap duo Bob Vylan came under a criminal investigation in Britain after chanting “Death, death to the I.D.F.” — referring to Israel’s army — at the Glastonbury festival in England. That investigation was later dropped, with the police saying the evidence did “not meet the criminal threshold” for prosecution.
The singer Kehlani, who has also spoken in support of the Palestinian cause, was dropped from last year’s lineup at SummerStage in Central Park under pressure from the administration of New York’s mayor at the time, Eric Adams.
Sheeran’s tour is set to go to Philadelphia on Saturday and complete its North American leg on Nov. 7 in Tampa, Fla.
Macklemore also said onstage at MetLife Stadium: “To all my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.”
He added, “My message is for peace, love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect and equality.”
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