Ed Sheeran support acts quit after Macklemore ‘Free Palestine’ row - The Latest
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What sparked the controversy involving Macklemore’s “Free Palestine” statement at Ed Sheeran’s concert?
This is the Guardian.
I think that Ed Shearer in a lot of ways has wanted to have his cake and eat it. And I think that this might be something which culturally is irrecoverable for him.
I wanted to stand up here and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart. Free.
Palestine. Maclin Moore directly challenged Ed Sheeran and said, you know, this is also your responsibility. I think it will prove harmful to Ed Sheeran. They lose is something which is more intelligible, and that's a kind of standing with, you know, for want of a better word, the
people. From The Guardians Today in Focus, this is the latest with me, Lucy Hall. It looks like the megastar Ed Sheeran might need to warm up or support for himself in the next few shows of his major global tour or at least the US leg of it after a major controversy. Jason Ockendyer, your assistant opinion editor. This started when the rapper McClamour used his support slot. to make a political statement in support of Palestine. What happened?
Yes, so it was on the fourth of September at Ed Cheeran's show in New Jersey, and MacLemore really made the effort to go to the front of the stage.
How did Macklemore’s on‑stage message and video lead to his removal from the US leg of the tour?
This is a massive stadium, and he was very intentional in kind of saying that, you know, there's a reason why I wanted to do this at this stadium today, and that's so that I can say those two words, 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.
Yeah, which was met with a huge cheer from the audience. McLemore then performed his song Hins Hall, which condemns Israel's military actions in Gaza and a video behind him showed scenes of destruction and devastation in Gaza on a big screen and and videos of that were shared very widely online. But since then and and quite quickly After he was pulled from all forthcoming shows in the rest of the US leg of Ed Sheeran's tour. What do we know about the reasons why that decision was made and by who?
Yeah, so the group Stop Anti Semitism basically accused McLemore of ambushing fans with um anti Israel propaganda. And this was particularly shared by the musician Pink as well. And so that kind of stubborned. And of course the initial reaction to McLamore had been really triumphant. People had thought this was an incredibly brave use of this platform. There was a lot of appreciation, there was a lot of praise for him. Yeah, it was
all over my social media and I'm sure a lot of people listening.
Why did venue owners and Robert Kraft intervene in the decision to drop Macklemore?
Yeah, absolutely. Um and then it became very consequential. Um so it was clear that Robert Caroth, one of the owners of the Forth Cutting Stadiums for the tour, also intervened. So subsequently Mac O Moore was dropped.
Okay, okay. W we should mention that McClamore got into some trouble, was accused of anti Semitism in two thousand and fourteen when he wore a a costume that was deemed to be very offensive. He apologised for that, but that has played into this somewhat, hasn't it?
Yeah, definitely. The kind of combination of that costume which people felt played on caricatures of Jewish people um in combination now with having a pro Palestinian stance has been seen as, you know, provocative by some people who want to conflate that pro Palestinian stance with anti Jewish hatred or with anti Semitism.
And yeah, it feels like we're talking about two very different things here. A costume that is clearly problematic, clearly had anti-Semitic undertones and for which Matt Clemore apologized, but then also an artist using one of the biggest stages of his career many years later, in the times that we're living through now, to address a crowd of tens of thousands of people and say the words Free Palestine in support of Palestinian people. It seems to me that that does not deserve censorship, nor does it warrant him being pulled from the rest of the US leg of this tour. McLemore has released a very strongly worded statement as a result of what's happened. What's he said?
So he basically directly challenged Ed Sheeran and said, you know, this is also your responsibility.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What sparked the controversy involving Macklemore’s “Free Palestine” statement at Ed Sheeran’s concert?
0:00–1:27
2
How did Macklemore’s on‑stage message and video lead to his removal from the US leg of the tour?
1:27–3:02
3
Why did venue owners and Robert Kraft intervene in the decision to drop Macklemore?
3:02–4:41
4
What reasons did the promoters give for pulling Macklemore from upcoming shows?
4:41–5:46
5
How did past anti‑Semitism accusations against Macklemore influence the current fallout?
5:46–7:30
6
Why did supporting acts Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Beoga and others quit the tour?
7:30–8:59
7
What does Ed Sheeran’s “apolitical” stance reveal about celebrity expectations in political debates?
8:59–10:16
8
Could the mass withdrawal of support acts force Ed Sheeran to cancel or reshape his tour?
10:16–11:31