Macklemore has been dropped from the remainder of Ed Sheeran’s LOOP Tour after sparking major backlash with his ‘Free Palestine‘ speech earlier this month.
The 43-year-old rapper, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, will not go on with the show after several major US venues notified tour promoters they would not allow the Thrift Shop hitmaker to perform on their stages, per Rolling Stone.
The enormity of the venue bans could have forced an entire tour cancellation impacting hundreds of thousands of fans.
So, Macklemore was removed and the tour will move forward without him.
The drama started when Macklemore used his opening set to chant ‘Free Palestine’ and deliver a politically motivated speech.
Macklemore, whose words were slammed by Pink, stated that every human being deserves the same freedom, and told the crowd he wanted people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to know they had not been forgotten.
Macklemore has been dropped from the remainder of Ed Sheeran’s LOOP Tour after sparking major backlash with his ‘Free Palestine’ speech earlier this month. Above, Macklemore on August 30 performing at the Goldencoast Rap Festival in France
The 43-year-old rapper will not go on with the show after several major US venues notified tour promoters they would not allow him to perform on their stage. Above, Sheeran and Macklemore performing during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas
He then performed his protest song Hind’s Hall while images of the devastation in Gaza were projected on the big screens at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Macklemore also faced a boycott petition calling for his removal from Sheeran’s tour for the blunt and direct language he used onstage.
He was the opening act for Sheeran’s Loop tour on two consecutive nights, September 4 and September 5, at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
Macklemore has also previously voiced support for Palestinians and called out Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and has continued doing so for years.
As seen in fan-taken footage, he wore a keffiyeh at one point during his set.
During his performance, he said he had a message to share with the Palestinian people and wanted them to know ‘they have not been forgotten’.
He said: ‘One of the reasons why I wanted to come on this tour was because I wanted to stand up here on stages in stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine. I said, Free Palestine!
‘I want those words to be loud and clear so that people from Gaza, all the way to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them.’
Macklemore also faced a boycott petition calling for his removal from Sheeran’s tour for the blunt and direct language he used onstage. Above, Sheeran and Macklemore in 2013 at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York City
Macklemore stated that every human being deserves the same freedom, and told the crowd he wanted people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to know they had not been forgotten. Above, Macklemore on August 30 performing at the Goldencoast Rap Festival in France
Macklemore also added: ‘I believe that every human being walking on this earth deserves exactly the same freedom, to know safety and peace before knowing the sounds of violence.’
During his speech, he referred to ICE as a ‘terrorist organization’ before shouting: ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Free Cuba, Congo, Sudan and Iran.’
The Israeli-American Council drew up a petition insisting he should be dropped from the remaining dates of Sheeran’s tour.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Macklemore’s representatives for comment.
It wasn’t known how many signatures the petition collected.
The group’s petition read: ‘This was an Ed Sheeran concert – not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event. The issue is not whether Macklemore has the right to hold political views.
‘The question is where the line should be drawn when an opening act uses a global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda.’
Fan reaction was split on social media after the two shows, with some defending his onstage war comments as others accused him of anti-Semitic rhetoric.
In 2014, Macklemore issued an apology after wearing a disguise on stage in Seattle that many condemned as an anti-Semitic Jewish caricature
Meanwhile, Pink weighed in on Macklemore’s recent controversy, amid calls from fans for the rapper to be removed from the tour.
The singer, 47, reposted an Instagram Story from StopAntisemitism, which slammed Macklemore’s performance.
The caption on the post read: ‘Awful – Jewish fans bought tickets to see Ed Sheeran sing last night in NJ, not to be ambushed by Macklemore’s anti-Israel propaganda.
‘Instead, Macklemore walked onstage in a keffiyeh, shouted “Free Palestine,” accused Israel of a false “genocide,” and turned a mainstream event into a political nightmare against the Jewish state. Concert goers are owed apologies and refunds.’
In response, Macklemore appeared to double down on his comments last week, as he posted a clip of his speech from MetLife Stadium with the caption: ‘Wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial.’
Pink did not add any additional commentary aside from re-sharing the post.
The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Pink, Macklemore and Sheeran for comment but has yet to hear back.
In his apology after the Jewish caricature controversy, he said: ‘There is no worse feeling than being misunderstood, especially when people are hurt or offended… I respect all cultures and all people.
Pink reposted an Instagram Story from StopAntisemitism, which slammed Macklemore’s performance and demanded an apology to the concertgoers
‘I would never intentionally put down anybody for the fabric that makes them who they are.
‘I love human beings, love originality, and… happen to love a weird outfit from time to time.’
Macklemore added that he never thought he looked Jewish.
‘Some people there thought I looked like Ringo, some Abe Lincoln. If anything, I thought I looked like Humpty Hump with a bowl cut,’ he added.
