Rapper Macklemore is a vocal supporter of Palestine and Gaza residents. During a recent concert at MetLife Stadium, he yelled “Free Palestine!” onstage, projected images of devastation in the area, and performed protest song “Hind’s Hall.”
Now, it seems that American venues are not willing to play ball with the Seattle artist, and he has been dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour.
“After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates,” according to Messina Touring Group, the promoter of Loop Tour. This news follows backlash from organizations like StopAntisemitism and others, such as pop star Pink.
So Ed Sheeran is a piece of shit, eh?
“American Venues”
Not sure who’s calling the shots here
EDIT:
Nothing says “good guy” like compromising your principles for money, right? tf is your argument here?
Macklemore was quite clear in his post: He blames Robert Kraft and not Ed
If Robert Kraft and the other stadium owners break tour contracts over a “we don’t like your opener” thing after they already signed, it’ll be huge fees and possibly a lawsuit. Ed Sheeran had leverage here and he didn’t use it.
His record label had the leverage and chose not to use it. There’s very little say the artists themselves actually have in these kinds of things.
This isn’t some starving artist we’re talking about here. This guy already has more money than you’ll make in your entire life working an honest job.
Does that give him any more agency in what transpires between his record label and the venues where he’s booked?
Yes it does. His fan base is what shows up and pays money in the first place.
He already has a name, time to cut loose?
All them big name artists could put their money where their mouth isn’t and build a venue, i’m sure it wouldn’t make Bono any poorer.
This is, actually not a bad idea. Someone send this to someone like Jack White. Get together a bunch of top musicians to actually fund the creation of a network of publicly owned venues. They can share resources and even pay artists real wages for performances. Call it a public option. Just needs the seed money
You realize their record labels hold all their IP, don’t you? So they cut loose and go indie and build a venue. What happens when their old label tells them they can’t play any of their music?
Didn’t Taylor Swift have similar issues?
I’m guessing bad publicity would be a deterrent for those labels. I guess poor ol’ Ed would have to create new stuff too.
It’s not like Macklemore has been quiet about his stance on Palestine. If it were a problem with Ed Sheeran, he probably wouldn’t have been on the tour in the first place.
Yeah but Sheeran is willing to bend the knee to keep the tour going. A real one would apologize to fans and let it be known it’s the venue owners cancelling shows and why.
It’s not like he’s some Indy act who won’t get more shows.
Ed Sheeran would never play the United States again if he pissed off Robert Kraft and the stadium owners (and LiveNation along with them).
Glad the US isn’t the world (unless you’re murican).
Sometimes it’s about more than money. There’s plenty of non stadium venues he could still tour at.
Ed is a brand, not a talent.
Watch. If he had refused to go on without Macklemore, these guys would’ve said “oh the rich baby didn’t want to go on because Macklemore said Palestine” or some shit.
Blame the rich fucks for their crimes; don’t invent new catch-22s to hang on them.
If “these guys” you’re talking about are Zionists, then I don’t think he should care what kind of vitriol they try to brew up for him. In fact, pissing them off is often the correct stance.
…and then Sheeran chose wrong.
So a piece of shit
zionists are calling the shots in “american venues”
According to Macklemore, Sheeran was told by venues to cut him, or cancel the whole tour. Sheeran tries to remain non-political as part of his brand. But it really feels like we’re up against the sad point where, if just saying “don’t genocide people” makes you “political”, then refusing to be political makes you a piece of shit.
I think a lot of artists are still riding this line between staying safe and potentially nuking their entire career. I won’t act like that’s an easy decision for anyone to make, but obviously looking from the outside it’s easy to see what the right decision is.
Time will tell. There’s still time for Ed to walk out on stage at his biggest show of the tour, throw a fist in the air, and say Free Palestine. I’ve had zero thoughts about him up until this point, but that would at least give me one shred of respect for him.
Honestly, this would flip the tables on the venues (ahem, LiveNation)…they’re ok throwing their weight around to get Macklemore dropped from tours, but Ed Sheeran is making them tens of millions of dollars…they would probably shut the fuck up if he did this.
Adam Sandler: He’s not going to though
Chris Farley: No, but you can imagine what it would be like if he did.
Yeah that’s bullshit. And there’s no such thing as being “neutral”, you’re just choosing the side of the oppressor.
That was my thought exactly!
I know precious little about him, but he sounds like a real dick.
It seems like it’s the venues that won’t let Mackelmore play.
From the tour promoters.
and Sheeran should refuse to work with those stakeholders
He might be contractually obligated to with significant penalties if he drops. Without knowing the contract it’s hard to tell. He might not even be able to get out of it by doing what Mackelmore did.
But it doesn’t look like he’s made a statement on it yet.
Ah yes, the most important part of music: stakeholders.
The articles made it seem like the venues forced Sheeran to drop macklemore. Sheeran may not have had a say.
He could tell the venues if they wanted to cancel his opening acts, they could cancel his show, too. That would require someone to have principles, though. 🤷♂️
he can play somewhere else
I realize that the state of touring venues is pretty fucked up, but someone with his sway is the only kind of person who can say “you know what, no, fuck you guys”
He sounds famous. I think he has some say. Of course so do venues, but I’d expect Ed Sheeran to have no problem finding other venues.
My conclusion from this is that Ed Sheeran supports genocide and that Macklemore is cooler than I thought.
a piece of shit for ditching a racist?
oh you’re ok with the racist i get it