Macklemore has been removed from the rest of Ed Sheeran’s U.S. stadium tour after several venues said they would not allow him to perform on the lineup. The move affects eight of the 10 shows left on the run and leaves the tour set to resume Friday, Sept. 19, in Philadelphia without him.
Messina Touring Group, the promoter, said the venues’ position could have led to the cancellation of the tour and affected hundreds of thousands of fans. The planned dates that had been in play included 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.
Macklemore joined the Loop Tour earlier this month and performed two shows at MetLife Stadium outside New York City on Sept. 4 and 5. At the first show, he shouted “Free Palestine” onstage, voiced solidarity with people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, showed images from the devastation in Gaza and performed “Hind’s Hall.” He also said he wanted to stand up in stadiums and say two words that were near and dear to his heart: “Free Palestine.”
The fight over his removal quickly turned into a blame game. Macklemore said on Instagram that Ed Sheeran told him Robert Kraft said he would not be allowed to perform in Kraft’s stadium, and that Kraft had rallied other stadium owners to give him an ultimatum. Kraft said he made the decision to bar Macklemore from Gillette based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.
That clash matters because it shows how fast a tour can become a venue-by-venue political fight once a performer uses the stage for protest. Macklemore has been an outspoken supporter of Palestinians and those in Gaza for years, and his set brought that stance into stadiums where the rest of the tour still had to clear every remaining date. The unresolved question now is not whether he will return to this leg; it is whether any other stadium owner would have gone as far as threatening the concerts themselves if he had stayed on the bill.
