SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Grammy-winning American rapper Macklemore has alleged that he was dropped from Ed Sheeran’s ongoing Loop Tour in the United States after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft pressured the British singer over his “Free Palestine” remarks on stage.
The 43-year-old rapper, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, made the claim in a 12-part statement posted on Instagram on Monday, September 14, hours after tour promoter Messina Touring Group confirmed that he would not perform at the remaining shows of the US leg.
“Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop Tour,” he said in the post.
Macklemore was scheduled to open at eight of the 10 remaining shows. The tour resumes on September 19 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
The rapper said he was told about a week ago that Kraft had telephoned Sheeran. The tour is scheduled to play Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on September 25 and 26. The venue is owned by the Kraft Group.
“Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium,” he said.
He further alleged that Kraft had brought together other stadium owners, who jointly told Sheeran that the tour would not be allowed at their venues if Macklemore remained on the line-up.
Sheeran has not commented publicly on the matter.
Victims are Palestinian people: Macklemore
In his statement, Macklemore said neither he, nor Sheeran, nor singer Pink, who had criticised him earlier, could be described as victims in the episode.
All three had careers, money, safety and audiences, and would return to their families regardless of the consequences of their statements, he said.
“The victims are the Palestinian people,” he said, referring to those killed, starved and displaced in Gaza. He said more than 20,000 children had been killed in the territory.
He ended the statement with the words “Free Palestine.”
‘Difficult conversations’ with Sheeran, says Macklemore
Macklemore described Sheeran as a friend of 13 years and said the two had held several telephone conversations over the past week that were respectful but ended in disagreement.
He said Sheeran, who has traditionally avoided political positions, was placed in a difficult situation. According to the rapper, Sheeran told him that the words “Free Palestine” and the image of the Palestinian flag had caused hurt to several people he had spoken to.
Macklemore said he responded that if those words were considered more offensive than the killing of Palestinian children, there was a fundamental disconnect between the two positions. Sheeran, however, was unable to move beyond his public stand of not taking sides, he said.
Origin of the row
The controversy began on September 4, when Macklemore opened for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey wearing a keffiyeh. Addressing a crowd of about 80,000, he said one of the reasons he joined the tour was to say two words in American stadiums that were close to his heart.
He then performed “Hind’s Hall,” his 2024 protest song named after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, as footage from the territory was shown on screens. He also told the audience that criticism of Israel was not criticism of Jewish people. He repeated the set the following night.
Pink shared a post from the account StopAntisemitism calling for the rapper to be dropped, and faced criticism for a week before issuing a detailed statement on September 11 in which she said she was standing up for her own people.
Messina Touring Group said in a statement to Rolling Stone that venues on the upcoming dates had informed the promoter they would not permit a concert with Macklemore on the line-up, which would have resulted in the cancellation of the tour.
Seven venues reportedly objected, including Lincoln Financial Field, Gillette Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, Bank of America Stadium, AT&T Stadium and Raymond James Stadium. Only two of them are privately owned, a point that has raised questions in the US media over free speech protections.
Concluding his statement, Macklemore said he had not needed 10 shows from Sheeran but only two, to stand before 90,000 people and say words that had become too dangerous to utter.
If those words had cost him the stage while turning the conversation back to Palestine, he said, it was “the most successful tour he had been on.”
SOURCE : SIASAT
