Before we get into it, here's what Macklemore actually said during his opening his set at MetLife, because it seems like the kind of thing you should read for yourself before a bunch of people tell you how to feel about it:

"I've been trying to figure out a way to say this all day. One of the reasons why I wanted to come on this tour was because I wanted to stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine. I said, Free Palestine. I want those words to be loud and clear, so the people from Gaza, all the way to the occupied West Bank, know that we have not forgotten them. And this next song was inspired by the bravery of Columbia University students who led an encampment movement that mobilized the entire world; open up hearts, myself included, so thank you to those students that risked their diplomas, that risked their tuition, that risked their scholarships, that stood up and said, no. CUAD students, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voices for Peace. Thank you, guys. To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you. My message is for peace; love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality. So I say Free Palestine, I say Free Lebanon, I say Free Cuba, I say Free Congo, Free Sudan, I say Free all people in America living in fear of this terrorist organization, ICE. None of us will be free until we are all free."

For this, Macklemore was pulled from the remaining dates of the tour. The promoter, Messina Touring Group, said in a statement to Rolling Stone that several venues had told them they would not host a show with Macklemore on the bill, which would have forced the entire tour to be cancelled, so they fired Macklemore instead.

Macklemore opened two shows for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on September 4 and 5. At the first show, after the speech above, he performed "Hind's Hall," his 2024 protest song written in part about Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli tank fire in January 2024. Her aunt, uncle, and four cousins were killed in the same attack along with the two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics sent to rescue her. All of them were killed by the IDF. The IDF of course denied it at first and then admitted it 2 years later. The song also became an anthem for the pro-Palestinian protests across US universities, including Columbia University that experienced some horrible police brutality. While Macklemore performed it, images from the destruction and atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza played on the stadium screens.

That set off a series of crazy events that flies directly in the face of what concert venues and musicians do. First Pink claimed Macklemore's performance was anti-Israel propaganda. When people called her out on her for her ridiculous stance she followed up with a longer statement that could be summed up as how hearing Free Palestine and seeing the death of Palestinian children at the hands of the IDF made her feel unsafe as a Jew in America. 

Then Israeli-American Counsel (IAC) launched a petition against the show arguing that concerts are "...not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event," and questioned whether a stadium tour was the right venue for political speech. 

Finally Robert Kraft, a staunch Zionist (he got an award from Benjamin Netanyahu) and owner of Gillette Stadium, contacted owners of the other stadiums the tour was going to in order to rally them to threaten Ed Sheeran that if Macklemore was on the concert bill, they'd cancel the shows. And so today, Macklemore was taken off the remaining seven U.S. tour stops: Philadelphia, Foxborough, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Arlington, and Tampa.

Macklemore has been a vocal supporter of Palestinians for several years and human rights organizations, U.N. officials, Israeli groups like B'Tselem, American Jewish groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, and the International Court of Justice have all weighed in stating that Israel is conducting a genocide (Israel denies this...surprising).

Concerts have never been apolitical spaces and pretending otherwise is a new and very selective idea. Woodstock was a protest against Vietnam that happened to also have music. Live Aid raised money and awareness for famine in Ethiopia in front of stadiums full of people. Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and even Ed Sheeran himself have all used stages to talk about war, poverty, voting rights, and immigration, and none of them got sent home for it. So the idea that a stadium show is some sacred neutral ground, and that "Free Palestine" specifically is the one phrase that breaks the seal, isn't a content policy. It's a very narrow, very specific exception, enforced by a very specific group of people.

Which is what makes this feel less like one promoter making one call about one show and more like a slow tightening of what artists are allowed to say from a stage at all when it is seen as anti-Zionist or anti-Israel. If "Free Palestine" gets you fired while every other cause on that list is fine, the actual rule being enforced isn't "no politics." It's "no politics that are about Israel," and everybody involved seems to know that, which is why nobody involved will say it out loud.