New Delhi: Ed Sheeran has dropped American rapper Macklemore from his US stadium tour after he yelled “Free Palestine” during a show at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Macklemore shared on Instagram that he was forced off Sheeran’s tour by billionaire and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
“Ed told me that Kraft said, ‘I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium’,” he posted. The next show of the tour is being held at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, owned by Kraft Group.
“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’,” he said.
Macklemore added that he is not a victim, nor is Sheeran or Pink, but Palestinians are the real victims: they have been killed, harmed, 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,” he wrote.
He shared that he and Sheeran have known each other for 13 years and that the British singer is like a brother. The 43-year-old made it clear that he is not writing this out of spite or to tear down Sheeran’s character.
“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,” he wrote.
However, Macklemore added that he hopes this isn’t the end of his relationship with Sheeran.
“Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this,” he wrote.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)