Macklemore performing on stage at Rock In Rio Lisbon, in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 22, 2024. Photo: Nuno Cruz via Reuters Connect

Macklemore has been removed from the remainder of Ed Sheeran’s North American tour after proclaiming “Free Palestine” and giving anti-Israel speeches onstage, the rapper announced on Monday.

“Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour,” he wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. The “Thrift Shop” singer said he feels a “duty” to speak in support of the Palestinians and does not regret declaring “Free Palestine” on stage during Sheeran’s Loop Tour.

“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,” Macklemore said.

“I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim,” he added. “The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women, and children who have been killed, starved, displaced, and forced to live through unimaginable violence.”

The Seattle-based rapper was the opening act for the Loop Tour and was scheduled to perform with Sheeran through September and October, before their final show together on Nov. 7 in Florida. Messina Touring Group, which is the promoter for the US portion of the tour, said on Monday the decision to remove Macklemore was made after several venues revealed they would not allow the anti-Israel rapper to perform.

“We have been notified by venues on the upcoming US tour dates that they will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans. After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates,” Messina Touring Group told Rolling Stone.

The promoter did not elaborate further but Macklemore explained in length what led up to the decision. In his Instagram post, he began by saying that he and Sheeran, who have known each other for 13 years, have had “some difficult conversations this past week. The type of talks rooted in love and respect for one another that still end in a place of fundamental disagreement.”

Mackelmore then revealed that Robert Kraft – who owns the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where they were scheduled to perform on Sept. 25 – called Sheeran and said Macklemore would not be allowed to perform in the venue. Kraft had also “rallied some of the other stadium owners and, collectively” they told Sheeran if Macklemore remains on the tour, the “Perfect’ singer will not be allowed to play in their venues.

“Ed was in a f–ked up position,” Macklemore explained. “His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before. He told me the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with … He couldn’t get past his public facing, ‘I don’t take sides.'”

“But there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed,” he added. “When one side has the bombs and the bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle … I hope this isn’t the end of my relationship with Ed. Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine, and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation.”

The Grammy winner opened for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4 and 5, and during both performances, he gave a pro-Palestinian speech on stage. “A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine. I said, Free Palestine!” he told the audience at the concert on Sept 4. “I want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.”

At the concert on Sept. 5, Macklemore again declared “Free Palestine,” before talking about supporting anti-Israel campus groups. He also addressed “all of my Jewish brothers and sisters” and tried to defend his criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war, while accusing Israel of genocide and apartheid.

At both concerts, Macklemore performed his 2024 song “Hind’s Hall,” in which he expresses support for anti-Israel protests on college and university campuses. The song’s music video, which includes images from Gaza and “Free Palestine” messages, was projected on screens at MetLife Stadium during the performance.

Macklemore was accused of promoting a “one-sided political agenda” and pushing “anti-Israel propaganda” onto concertgoers following his statements son stage. Pink, who is Jewish, also criticized the rapper in a lengthy Instagram post on Saturday.

“Last weekend he stood in front of a stadium full of music-loving families, with violent images from a war on the screens, dedicated a song to the movement of his choice, then took the mic to tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them. You don’t get to decide that for us,” she wrote in part. “I have stood up for other people’s people my whole career, and I know exactly what it costs. And now I’m standing up for my own people, and I thought I knew going in how lonely that would be. And it’s lonelier than that. But I’m doing it anyway.”

“You don’t have to agree with one thing Israel’s government does to not want the Jewish family two rows down from you to be scared or targeted at a concert,” she added.

Mackelmore said in Instagram post on Monday that he has lost many things for expressing pro-Palestinian views, including “money, brand deals, sponsorships, festivals, private shows, relationships, and access.”