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“I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2.'
“I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2.
"Macklemore this week released a statement after being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour due to his on stage support of Palestine. The singer, who was supporting Ed on his Loop tour in the States this month, was removed from the tour this week, after he was vocal about his support of Palestine, and his aversion to genocide.
Macklemore has long been an active supporter of Palestine, and regularly uses his platform to speak about the atrocities being committed in Gaza and beyond. However, after two shows supporting Ed he was removed from the tour. He released a statement on Monday saying: “I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters.
I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world.
Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.
“The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow.
I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don’t lose sight of that. ”Macklemore had previously been criticised by Pink, who claimed he was speaking out about the Jewish community, rather than the Israeli government.
“Ed is my friend. I’ve known him for 13 years,” Macklemore went on.
“We’ve shared late nights, studio sessions and stages. He has this infectious magic about him that I’ve grown to love. I consider him a brother. And because of that, we’ve had some difficult conversations this past week.
“Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues. “Ed was in a fucked up position. He knew it. 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. ” The artist went on to say that when a support of Palestine gets conflated with a hatred towards the Jewish community, “it protects Israel from accountability.
”“Who is winning the internet, who is getting canceled, who gets to play the stadium and who doesn’t, all of it becomes so small when held against what we are actually witnessing in Gaza and the West Bank,” he said.
“An entire people being displaced, starved and killed while the world debates which words we are allowed to use to describe it, how those words make us feel, and whether our discomfort matters more than the people living through a genocide. “I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say.
Free Palestine.
“But 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. ” Ed has yet to address the decision himself, but his promoter said: “As the concert promoter for Ed Sheeran’s U.S. Loop Tour, we have been notified by venues on the upcoming U.S. 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. ”
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