It would be hilarious and awesome if Macklemore did free concerts/pro-palestine rallies outside these venues.
Unfortunately, “free” concerts still cost money.
Pretty sure it would be easy to fundraise for this.
Then start fundraising.
Let me get Macklemore on the phone to confirm he’s up for it.
🙄
So, it’s not easy. That’s what the other poster tried to tell you.
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted. You never said it’s impossible or unimportant. But concerts take weeks or months of planning.
Some people want something to happen, but don’t want to make the first step or put work in themself. 🤷♂️
Well Ed fucking sucks. This is more than just passively looking away. Silencing criticism of a genocide makes you actively complicit.
History will remember people like this.
And Macklemore is cool. He might be cringy, but he’s genuine and I like him. Saw him live once and it was one of the best shows I ever saw.
I didn’t like him because his line on his hit song about wearing fur, which I am against. But now, I am 100% behind this muthafucka.
That was notably a line about wearing used fur, not sourcing new fur for new clothes. I think that is an important distinction when evaluating the moral arguments against wearing fur. Still totally valid to be against any fur clothing, but that line feels a lot less immoral to me in context.
Wearing is popularizing.
I am so over that in favour of his standing up for what’s right. But that line wasn’t cool, not to my sensibilities, but I’ve seen footage of trapped animals and it is heart rending. And these fur farms in denmark are fucking disgusting too.
It was a song about thrifting. A song against fast fashion, consumerism, and satirizing displays of wealth. That’s what it was popularizing. It was a line about making the most out of the lot we’re given. It was not a song glorifying the wearing of fur. Fur is poetic shorthand for wealth. You can’t excise a single word or line from a song or poem from it’s context. And if you’d actually listened to the song or watched the video, it’d have been pretty clear that no one wearing gator boots or or mink was cool. It was satire. The line about mink even says that it smells like piss.
If it’s the line and song I’m thinking it is, it’s about finding an assortment of things, including a second hand fur already at a thrift store, and giving it a second life by assembling an eclectic wardrobe out of what’s present. I get that it still produces an image, but it’s not driving demand in the same way.
Yeah it’s about reusing something already made.
It’s not Ed, it’s the industry…
Like Macklemore said himself:
What happened to the artist? What d’you got to say?
If I was on a label, you could drop me today
I’d be fine with it 'cause the heart fed my page
I want a ceasefire, fuck a response from Drake (Woo)
Macklemore is truly independent, he can say whatever the fuck he wants.
Ed has “his own label” but it’s owned by Warner, so if they tell him to do something, he has to do it.
There’s only a handful of major labels, but they “give” popular artists sub-labels to cultivate an illusion of diversity.
Epitaph is one of “biggest small labels” and they even pull the same shit, although I’m not gonna complain Tim Armstrong gets more autonomy…
Macklemore continued: “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. But he couldn’t get past his public facing, ‘I don’t take sides.’”
so a de facto fascist rather than an intentional one
‘I don’t take sides.’”
What an absolute bitch. Take a fucking side.
The point of ed sheeran is to be as bland as the average isekai/harem protagonist
That’s a distinction without a difference. Of course the label were a factor here, likely the deciding one. But that just makes the label culpable without absolving Ed from it. They all fucking suck, but Ed is still the one doing shows. He could/should have made Macklemore a condition of contuining to perform.
I get what you are saying, this choice wasn’t made by Ed alone. But at the end of the day, all I see is a genocide being covered up. It doesn’t matter if we blame the artist or the label more, all of them are complicit in silencing criticism. They should all be addressed, called out and remembered for their active inaction.
How did that work out for Sinéad O’Connor?
And if you don’t know who that is, there’s a fucking reason.
Was it Courtney Love that got blacklisted for a decade because her advice to young girls was “if Harvey Weinstein invites you to a party, don’t go.”
Of course I do, and frankly they have both worked out quite well morally speaking. Courtneys clip got a lot of play during MeToo. She was one of the few to talk about an open secret.
So to be clear, you think Courtney shouldn’t have talked? She should have known and kept it to herself like all the other slimey enablers? Because that’s what Ed “I don’t pick sides” Sheeran politics does, enables. No amount of money or fame should be worth ignoring genocide.
The choice was:
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Go along with Macklemore getting removed.
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Get removed along with Macklemore and if lucky get dropped.
What is more likely is the label keeps you on the current contract, but intentionally savatoges you to make an example out of. Even if they let him out of his contract, he’s a big name but going independent would be a massive pay cut.
Like, without a label behind him, he’s not headlining anything. His best bet is to get picked up as an opener like Macklemore, and obviously he could get dropped just as easily.
Absolutely nothing would change.
What needs to change is breaking up giant corporations so a handful of CEOs don’t have this much power. That would actually solve shit.
I get what you are saying, this choice wasn’t made by Ed alone
You don’t get what I’m saying, because I’m saying Ed had no say on if Macklemore would stay. He could just have thrown his own career away too out of solidarity when it wouldn’t produce meaningful change.
Which is a very different choice.
The choice was:
Go along with Macklemore getting removed. Get removed along with Macklemore and if lucky get dropped.Sounds like the exact same choice Macklemore had. Shut up and go along with it, or have personal integrity. And we have an example right there of someone taking the correct choice. Ed could have, too.
He could just have thrown his own career away too out of solidarity when it wouldn’t produce meaningful change.
Oh come off it. The man has a litany of awards. The idea that his career would end today because he showed solidarity with Gaza is laughable. You aren’t making a serious argument here.
Always a million reasons to do the easy thing, but I’m glad some artists use their platform to do the right thing. Ed sure as shit isn’t one of them.
I think the main difference is you still think music industry awards mean anything when they’re given by the literal people who are actually causing the problem you’re mad about
And you also think Ed Sheenan is talented, and isn’t just an aging popstar the same music industry made a thing, mostly thru their own made awards.
This is way more dystopian than you realize, you’re just not understanding any of it because you’re upset
Calm down and just think for a second man, none of this is overly complicated.
Like, in 2026 it’s just shocking to find anyone who thinks an artist signed to a major label has any say about anything. Which was the entire point of my first comment.
but I’m glad some artists use their platform to do the right thing.
Who?
Kneecap does it because they’re the biggest name on a small London Indie label who blew up internationally
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Recordings
And they can’t play big festivals/shows anymore either.
So who are this mythical big names signed to major labels who can “do the right thing”. Because I’m betting bringing Macklemore along to sing Hinds Hall in front of giant crowds is less than they did, especially knowing this would eventually happen.
Edit:
And to clarify, if Macklemore was on the lineup venues weren’t going to let the shows happen…
I’m not saying there isn’t something to be mad at here, I’m saying being mad at the wrong people just lets the actual problem go unaddressed.
It’s starts to get suspicious you’re so gungho to let the actual people censoring media in defense of Israel.off the hook
This is the kind of propaganda Israel excels at, and whether you know it or not you’re doing their work for them
If the tour gets canceled, Ed still has a public voice that people actually listen to. He could try to turn his fans on the owners of the venues, and what are they going to say? No one cares what some glorified landlord thinks or feels.
This was cowardly of him, and he’ll have to live with the fact that he could have been a man and wasn’t.
This was cowardly of him, and he’ll have to live with the fact that he could have been a man and wasn’t.
So you think he got Macklemore to open…
And was shocked when Macklemore said this?
You don’t think that he knew Macklemore would say what he’s been saying for years, and that giving him this platform to say it wasn’t valuable.
You know if Macklemore never got this gig, there wouldn’t be an article right?
What’s going on here, why are so many people not capable.ofnunderstanding this?
You’re right, but you’re being a little harsh about it.
They don’t get why Ed Sheeran is bigger than Macklemore.
They’re both talented, sure. There’s a lot of talented people in the world.
They don’t get why Ed Sheeran is bigger than Macklemore.
I mean, it’s obviously not talent…
It’s because Ed has a giant label behind him that decided they wanted to make him a popstar.
I’ve never heard a full song by him, but I saw Macklemore live over a decade ago and was fan before that and still am.
That’s especially relevant here because there’s no way Macklemore got this gig unless Ed pushed hard for it, and considering Macklemore’s best known recent music is about Gaza, Ed almost certainly knew this would happen
Like, not just assumed it was likely, I’m saying there was no doubt and likely an explicit discussion and plans for if this happened.
It’s just frustrating no one sees that stuff, no one thinks critically when Israel comes up, and Israel pumps out an insane amount of propaganda to exploit that.
A massive pay cut
Does Ed Sheeran need money? I mean I am sure he would still have plenty of fans to make a huge living at smaller venues and selling on Bandcamp or his own website direct. But I doubt he needs money that bad.
Ed Sheeran is worth $400m.
Damn, what would he do if he got dropped by his label???
Probably living in a box or something under a bridge.
“It’s OK if you do it for money”
No…
It’s just acting like he has any control just shows that you don’t understand it.
If you think he can just say “Macklemore stays” and that’s it, Ed looks like a huge dick.
Which is why it’s worth clarifying he his only other option is to throw his own career away after almost certainly being the ones who got Macklemore on stage and able to say it in front of a huge crowd in the first place.
If everyone who supported Palestine quit their jobs in the entertainment industry in protest, it would just be handing away their microphones, figuratively and literally.
What’s so hard about understanding this?
What’s so hard about understanding this?
You write some form of this in most of your comments and it makes you sound like a complete dick. Most likely that’s why they keep getting buried.
Foxy got enough money to just say fuck it tho 🤷🏻 and that would help
Dude has a net worth of 400 million. He could’ve made a stand.
Ok but he needs more
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I guess Ed Sheeran was… Warned.
And Christ, what’s the point or fame and power if you’re not allowed to call a fucking genocide a genocide?
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Both sides coward
anti-GENOCIDE is considered controversial nowadays…
In 2003, it freaked me out when common Republicans toed the line regarding the torture matter, simultaneously saying torture isn’t wrong, and waterboarding isn’t torture. Some right-wing personalities volunteered to get waterboarded to show it wasn’t so bad. When SERE indulged them they cracked inside a few minutes.
But yeah, half of the United States decided that torture was AOK. It was fucked up. It also shows some people only have integrity when it’s about their own fam. When it’s about outsiders, they’ll endorse genocide if their lives are inconvenient.
MAGA is coming for liberals. Where a liberal is anyone who isn’t MAGA.
Most people don’t have integrity, period. It is not a value people hold. Rather, they believe it is better to be manipulative because they see that as powerful.
I think it only took a few seconds before the host cracked.
Back in the days it would’ve been anti nazi to support Jewish genocide. The irony.
Chaim Azriel Weizmann (/ˈkaɪm ˈwaɪtsmən/ KYME WYTES-mən;[a] 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was an Israeli statesman, biochemist, and Zionist leader who served as president of the Zionist Organization and later as the first president of Israel. He was elected on 16 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952. Weizmann was instrumental in obtaining the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and convincing the United States government to recognize the newly formed State of Israel in 1948.
Britain needeed acetone for bombs and Isreal was born. Always follow the money.
Are you saying our ALLIES aren’t allowed to freely kill whoever they don’t like!? You monster!
it was the patriot owner that banned him, and he snitched on him to other stadium owners to black list him permanently.
What did they think he was going to do? Palestine has been Macklemore’s whole thing for a few years, now. When they booked him in the first place, did they think he’d just play Thrift Shop 5 times a night or something?
I think they probably risked it because someone on Ed’s team (or Ed himself) likes him and they were hoping there would not be as much pushback or that it would not lead to the label or whoever their bosses are to be assholes like this. Seems like they were just trying to push the envelope and weren’t successful unfortunately.
Seems like they were just trying to push the envelope and weren’t successful unfortunately.
You know the IT crowd sports bit? This could be the music version of “did you see that ludicrous display last night”
in economics, if you ever fell asleep and they asked you a question while you were sitting in a lecture or delivering a presentation or heaven forbid conference, you could always just pipe up “well it seems like you’ve ignored the general equilibrium issues” and then get back to your nap. if you ever hear an economist say that, it’s code for "you woke me up in the middle of my nap and i am going back to sleep as soon as i am done with this sente
Apparently no one read the article:
Macklemore has been removed from the rest of Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour after several venues allegedly told the trek’s promoter that they would not allow the rapper to perform. The news came after Macklemore made several onstage statements in support of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and called for a “free Palestine.”
In an exclusive statement shared with Rolling Stone, Messina Touring Group, promoter of the U.S. leg of Sheeran’s Loop Tour, 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.”
The option was show with no Macklemore or no show at all…
And that was the decision of the single company that owns almost every major venue in America
Fuck that Ed refused to take a stand and Kraft mever banned Kanye after releasing heil hitler.
Sheeran could speak outjust like pink did but he chooses to let a friend and colleague be put on blast publicly. Ed has the money to not be silent.
BUT THINK OF THE FANS!!!
Totally agree, solidarity forever!
Should have called their bluff and asked to cancel the whole show.
What?
It was “individual venues” but it’s a safe assumption it’s Live Nation, because they own most large venues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Nation_Entertainment
And again, it’s not Ed decision anyways:
After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”
Very few artists (certainly not this one) can pay up front for a US stadium tour.
They have financial backers who then have final say, even if they initially let artists make decisions.
You’re right to be mad, but it’s completely unproductive when you’re not mad at the right people.
At least be mad at the people who actually the problem and Ed Sheeran. Instead of mad at Ed Sheeran instead of the right people.
Ed could have also said “Free Palestine”
The show does not have to go on for the benefit of shitheads
According to Macklemore, it was Robert Kraft personally.
Confirmed. This is the guy that was soliciting prostitutes and then used his money to get the charges dropped…
Robert Kraft Confirms He Barred Macklemore From Ed Sheeran Boston Shows
Most stadiums and arenas are independently owned AFAIK. According to Mackelmore, Robert Kraft who owns Gillette Stadium, got him kicked of the tour.
Yeah, I saw someone else found a better link with an explanation from Macklemore. Every stop who threatened to cancel was an NFL stadium, it wasnt just Kraft and NE.
Highlights an even bigger issue where city/state residents foot the bill for these venues but then the billionaire keeps final control over it.
It’s insane cities don’t own their own stadiums. We pay for it anyways.
Ticketmaster/live nation continue to be one of the worst companies in America
That’s the threat they made, I doubt they would have actually followed through but who knows
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Yeah, the choice should have been “no show at all” then. That’s the whole point.
Sheeran should have cancelled the shows at those venues. Instead, he’s playing along with them.
I understand the ramifications of this. Sheeran is on the wrong side here by bowing down to the monopoly.
Yesterday I had no opinion on either. Today I have a higher opinion of Macklemore than Ed Sheeran.
I got burned out by the thrift shop song but check out his song “Same Love.” Dude has been a real one since the start, Palestine is just another cause he’s on the right side of.
“For those who like the same sex had the characteristics. The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision, that can be fixed with some treatment and religion.”
I love his debut album “The Language Of My World” but unfortunately it’s been pulled from most streaming services a while back, not sure why.
Amazon
Apple Music
Where are you seeing it being pulled?
Didn’t know who these two people were before today. One of then I’ll remember when picking up some music and the other I’ve already forgotten.
Gift link from Defector about what caused this: https://defector.com/robert-kraft-now-decides-who-tours-with-ed-sheeran?giftLink=0f849c8c3a8ed08c6a2512a5d9c2aadc
I wouldn’t say he’s a dick, but he’s a coward.
If anyone says the blame lies with the venues, Ed could have just said “well he’s playing or I’m not” but sadly he has no backbone. Nor does he give a shit about anything but pumping out another song about getting drunk and hooking up with a fit girl
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Apparently it was an ultimatum and there was a contract
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Had he chosen not to go on, the vocal people would say he was afraid to go on after Macklemore said Palestine.
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