Macklemore has been removed from the rest of Ed Sheeran’s U.S. stadium tour after the concert promoter said several venues would not allow the shows to go ahead with him on the lineup. Messina Touring Group said the dispute could have forced cancellations and affected hundreds of thousands of fans, so he will not play the remaining support dates.
The change lands just as Sheeran’s U.S. Loop Tour is set to resume on Friday, Sept. 19, in Philadelphia, making the decision immediate rather than theoretical. Macklemore had been scheduled for eight of the 10 shows left on the U.S. leg, which means the tour has lost one of its most visible opening acts before the next stadium date even begins.
The venues named in the dispute include Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. That list matters because it shows the problem was not confined to one stop; it spread across the remaining run of stadium dates.
Macklemore has said the break came after Robert Kraft pressured Sheeran to drop him. In an Instagram statement, he wrote that Sheeran told him Kraft said he would not be allowed to perform in his stadium, and that Kraft had rallied other stadium owners into an ultimatum: keep Macklemore on the tour and lose the venues. Kraft, for his part, said he personally made the decision to bar Macklemore from Gillette, citing Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and what he described as a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.
The dispute traces back to Macklemore’s shows at MetLife Stadium outside New York City on Sept. 4 and 5. On the first night, he yelled “Free Palestine” onstage, expressed solidarity with people in Gaza and the West Bank, showed images from the devastation in Gaza and performed his protest song “Hind’s Hall.” He later said that a big reason he wanted the tour was so he could stand in stadiums and say “Free Palestine.”
That is why the removal now carries more weight than a routine tour adjustment. Macklemore has been an outspoken supporter of Palestinians for years, but the leap from one political message at MetLife Stadium to losing the rest of a national stadium run shows how quickly arena politics can become booking policy. What remains unclear is whether the venue objections were limited to the names already identified or whether more stadium owners joined the pressure that Macklemore describes. For now, the answer is simple: he is off the rest of the U.S. leg, and the tour is moving on without him.
