Social media users are rallying behind Macklemore after he was removed from the remaining United States (US) dates of Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour, with some calling for a boycott of the British singer.
The backlash followed Macklemore’s support for Palestine during his performances at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium and his subsequent removal from the tour.
Macklemore had called on the audience to say “Free Palestine” during his September 4 performance, saying he wanted people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to know they had not been forgotten.
The rapper later confirmed his removal from the tour in a now-viral Instagram post, saying he and Sheeran had held “difficult conversations” over the decision.
Macklemore also claimed that pressure from stadium owners played a role in the decision, linking it to Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts.
“Ed was in a f–ked up position,” Macklemore wrote. “He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it had never been before.”
He also questioned why his support for Palestine had become an issue while performing alongside Sheeran, saying he had expressed the same views on stages around the world for almost three years.
“What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years,” he wrote. “So why is it an issue now? Because now I’m sharing the stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stages in America.”
Following the news, social media users began criticising Sheeran over his position and called on people to boycott his music and shows.
One user contrasted the two artists’ positions by writing: “Macklemore: Don’t kill kids. Ed Sheeran: I don’t take sides.”
Another user shared the quote, “You can’t be neutral on a moving train,” while others accused Sheeran of avoiding taking a position on the genocide in Gaza.
“Not ‘taking sides’ IS taking sides, Ed,” one user wrote.
Another called Sheeran a “coward and Zionist apologist” while ending the post with “Free Palestine!”
Some users also criticised Sheeran over claims that he had been pressured to remove Macklemore from the tour, with one post alleging that Kraft had given him an ultimatum over the rapper’s continued participation.
One user wrote that Sheeran had been “exposed” by Macklemore and described the singer as a “two faced coward”.
Another post criticised Sheeran’s decision not to take a side, referencing Ireland’s history of oppression and saying, “But by all means don’t take a side when it’s happening to others.”
Some users focused on Sheeran’s reported position of remaining apolitical, with one calling him “an apolitical b*tch who ‘doesn’t take sides’”.
Another user wrote: “So sad that Ed Sheeran could not distinguish between babies and children being killed and maimed from the feelings of a people being hurt, but that considered Palestinian people as inhuman, so no matter the atrocities it was justified like in Ed Sheeran’s reasoning.”
Macklemore had been scheduled to perform at eight of the remaining 10 US shows on Sheeran’s tour. The tour will resume in Philadelphia on 19 September with Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe as the scheduled opening acts.
