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Macklemore Dropped From Ed Sheeran Tour After Onstage ‘Free Palestine’ Statements
(www.rollingstone.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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Well Ed fucking sucks. This is more than just passively looking away. Silencing criticism of a genocide makes you actively complicit.
History will remember people like this.
And Macklemore is cool. He might be cringy, but he's genuine and I like him. Saw him live once and it was one of the best shows I ever saw.
I didn't like him because his line on his hit song about wearing fur, which I am against. But now, I am 100% behind this muthafucka.
That was notably a line about wearing used fur, not sourcing new fur for new clothes. I think that is an important distinction when evaluating the moral arguments against wearing fur. Still totally valid to be against any fur clothing, but that line feels a lot less immoral to me in context.
If it's the line and song I'm thinking it is, it's about finding an assortment of things, including a second hand fur already at a thrift store, and giving it a second life by assembling an eclectic wardrobe out of what's present. I get that it still produces an image, but it's not driving demand in the same way.
Yeah it's about reusing something already made.
It's not Ed, it's the industry...
Like Macklemore said himself:
Macklemore is truly independent, he can say whatever the fuck he wants.
Ed has "his own label" but it's owned by Warner, so if they tell him to do something, he has to do it.
There's only a handful of major labels, but they "give" popular artists sub-labels to cultivate an illusion of diversity.
Epitaph is one of "biggest small labels" and they even pull the same shit, although I'm not gonna complain Tim Armstrong gets more autonomy....
Macklemore continued: “His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before. He told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood. But he couldn’t get past his public facing, ‘I don’t take sides.’”
so a de facto fascist rather than an intentional one
What an absolute bitch. Take a fucking side.
The point of ed sheeran is to be as bland as the average isekai/harem protagonist
That's a distinction without a difference. Of course the label were a factor here, likely the deciding one. But that just makes the label culpable without absolving Ed from it. They all fucking suck, but Ed is still the one doing shows. He could/should have made Macklemore a condition of contuining to perform.
I get what you are saying, this choice wasn't made by Ed alone. But at the end of the day, all I see is a genocide being covered up. It doesn't matter if we blame the artist or the label more, all of them are complicit in silencing criticism. They should all be addressed, called out and remembered for their active inaction.
How did that work out for Sinéad O'Connor?
And if you don't know who that is, there's a fucking reason.
Was it Courtney Love that got blacklisted for a decade because her advice to young girls was "if Harvey Weinstein invites you to a party, don't go."
Of course I do, and frankly they have both worked out quite well morally speaking. Courtneys clip got a lot of play during MeToo. She was one of the few to talk about an open secret.
So to be clear, you think Courtney shouldn't have talked? She should have known and kept it to herself like all the other slimey enablers? Because that's what Ed "I don't pick sides" Sheeran politics does, enables. No amount of money or fame should be worth ignoring genocide.
The choice was:
Go along with Macklemore getting removed.
Get removed along with Macklemore and if lucky get dropped.
What is more likely is the label keeps you on the current contract, but intentionally savatoges you to make an example out of. Even if they let him out of his contract, he's a big name but going independent would be a massive pay cut.
Like, without a label behind him, he's not headlining anything. His best bet is to get picked up as an opener like Macklemore, and obviously he could get dropped just as easily.
Absolutely nothing would change.
What needs to change is breaking up giant corporations so a handful of CEOs don't have this much power. That would actually solve shit.
You don't get what I'm saying, because I'm saying Ed had no say on if Macklemore would stay. He could just have thrown his own career away too out of solidarity when it wouldn't produce meaningful change.
Which is a very different choice.
Oh come off it. The man has a litany of awards. The idea that his career would end today because he showed solidarity with Gaza is laughable. You aren't making a serious argument here.
Always a million reasons to do the easy thing, but I'm glad some artists use their platform to do the right thing. Ed sure as shit isn't one of them.
I think the main difference is you still think music industry awards mean anything when they're given by the literal people who are actually causing the problem you're mad about
And you also think Ed Sheenan is talented, and isn't just an aging popstar the same music industry made a thing, mostly thru their own made awards.
This is way more dystopian than you realize, you're just not understanding any of it because you're upset
Calm down and just think for a second man, none of this is overly complicated.
Like, in 2026 it's just shocking to find anyone who thinks an artist signed to a major label has any say about anything. Which was the entire point of my first comment.
Who?
Kneecap does it because they're the biggest name on a small London Indie label who blew up internationally
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Recordings
And they can't play big festivals/shows anymore either.
So who are this mythical big names signed to major labels who can "do the right thing". Because I'm betting bringing Macklemore along to sing Hinds Hall in front of giant crowds is less than they did, especially knowing this would eventually happen.
Edit:
And to clarify, if Macklemore was on the lineup venues weren't going to let the shows happen...
I'm not saying there isn't something to be mad at here, I'm saying being mad at the wrong people just lets the actual problem go unaddressed.
It's starts to get suspicious you're so gungho to let the actual people censoring media in defense of Israel.off the hook
This is the kind of propaganda Israel excels at, and whether you know it or not you're doing their work for them
If the tour gets canceled, Ed still has a public voice that people actually listen to. He could try to turn his fans on the owners of the venues, and what are they going to say? No one cares what some glorified landlord thinks or feels.
This was cowardly of him, and he'll have to live with the fact that he could have been a man and wasn't.
So you think he got Macklemore to open...
And was shocked when Macklemore said this?
You don't think that he knew Macklemore would say what he's been saying for years, and that giving him this platform to say it wasn't valuable.
You know if Macklemore never got this gig, there wouldn't be an article right?
What's going on here, why are so many people not capable.ofnunderstanding this?
You're right, but you're being a little harsh about it.
They don't get why Ed Sheeran is bigger than Macklemore.
They're both talented, sure. There's a lot of talented people in the world.
I mean, it's obviously not talent...
It's because Ed has a giant label behind him that decided they wanted to make him a popstar.
I've never heard a full song by him, but I saw Macklemore live over a decade ago and was fan before that and still am.
That's especially relevant here because there's no way Macklemore got this gig unless Ed pushed hard for it, and considering Macklemore's best known recent music is about Gaza, Ed almost certainly knew this would happen
Like, not just assumed it was likely, I'm saying there was no doubt and likely an explicit discussion and plans for if this happened.
It's just frustrating no one sees that stuff, no one thinks critically when Israel comes up, and Israel pumps out an insane amount of propaganda to exploit that.
Does Ed Sheeran need money? I mean I am sure he would still have plenty of fans to make a huge living at smaller venues and selling on Bandcamp or his own website direct. But I doubt he needs money that bad.
Ed Sheeran is worth $400m.
Damn, what would he do if he got dropped by his label???
Probably living in a box or something under a bridge.
"It's OK if you do it for money"
No...
It's just acting like he has any control just shows that you don't understand it.
If you think he can just say "Macklemore stays" and that's it, Ed looks like a huge dick.
Which is why it's worth clarifying he his only other option is to throw his own career away after almost certainly being the ones who got Macklemore on stage and able to say it in front of a huge crowd in the first place.
If everyone who supported Palestine quit their jobs in the entertainment industry in protest, it would just be handing away their microphones, figuratively and literally.
What's so hard about understanding this?
You write some form of this in most of your comments and it makes you sound like a complete dick. Most likely that's why they keep getting buried.
Foxy got enough money to just say fuck it tho 🤷🏻 and that would help
Dude has a net worth of 400 million. He could've made a stand.
Ok but he needs more
I guess Ed Sheeran was... Warned.
And Christ, what's the point or fame and power if you're not allowed to call a fucking genocide a genocide?
Both sides coward