Sheeran urged to drop Macklemore from tour

American rapper Macklemore called out “Free Palestine” during his opening set for Ed Sheeran at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Friday night, drawing cheers from parts of the crowd and angry reactions from Israeli concertgoers and a Jewish American group.

Macklemore, who was one of several opening acts ahead of Sheeran, made the comments before tens of thousands of people and later launched into his anti-Israel protest song “Hind’s Hall” at the stadium, which has a capacity of more than 80,000.

“I want the people from Gaza to the occupied West Bank to know that we have not forgotten them,” Macklemore told the audience, according to the Ynet news site. “I believe that every human being walking on this earth deserves exactly the same freedom — to know safety and peace before knowing the sounds of violence, and to know the sound of laughter on the playground before aeroplanes and bombs.”

Macklemore went on to say he would not allow fear or concern for his own comfort or the audience’s to prevent him from speaking his mind. He then called out “Free Palestine, free Cuba, the Congo, Sudan and Iran,” and denounced the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which he called a “terror organisation.”

Following the remarks, Macklemore performed “Hind’s Hall” as footage from Gaza and pro-Palestinian demonstrations was shown on the large screens behind him. Images of Israeli soldiers and pro-Palestinian messages were also displayed during the song.

One Israeli attendee told Channel 12 that the set was “very triggering and blatant,” saying she had come to the concert with a group of 10 friends from Hoboken.

“We’re already used to hearing ‘Free Palestine’ here and there, but here it was a significant part of the performance,” she said.

Another Israeli attendee told Channel 12 that she had attended with her children and “just felt unwanted,” adding that two other families sitting nearby had 16-year-old Jewish girls who “stormed out and cried.”

Ynet separately spoke with New Jersey residents Noya Zoaretz and Gefen Levin, who said members of their group were particularly shaken because friends of theirs had been killed during the war and murdered at the Nova music festival.

“We were 10 people at the concert and we hadn’t checked who the opening act was, and we didn’t know Macklemore beforehand,” they told Ynet. “We only found out there and we were in shock. It was really horrifying.”

“It was really like a knife in the heart that he was singing like that and people were cheering him,” they told Ynet, adding that some members of their group left the stadium before Sheeran’s performance began.

“Hind’s Hall,” released in May 2024 during a wave of pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations in the United States, was named for Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, which pro-Palestinian protesters occupied and symbolically renamed after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza.

The song accuses Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid,” criticises Zionism and rejects the contention that antizionism constitutes antisemitism.

Israel vehemently denies accusations of genocide in the war in Gaza that was sparked by the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre.

Macklemore, whose song “Can’t Hold Us” was once a hit in Israel, has become one of the more prominent anti-Israel voices in the American music industry since the outbreak of the war, appearing at pro-Palestinian events and repeatedly speaking out on the issue.

His appearance at MetLife was not a surprise guest spot. Ynet reported that he had been announced in advance as one of Sheeran’s official opening acts, alongside Lukas Graham and BIIRD, and  opened for Sheeran again at the same stadium the following night, as well as being scheduled at additional US dates.

Social media posts from Saturday night’s second MetLife concert appeared to show Macklemore again calling for a “Free Palestine” and performing “Hind’s Hall,” despite the backlash from some attendees following Friday’s show.

Following the performances, the Israeli-American Council launched a petition calling on Sheeran and organisers of the Loop Tour to remove Macklemore from the remaining tour dates, accusing the rapper of using the concert stage to promote a “one-sided political agenda.”

The petition, addressed to Sheeran, the tour’s leadership and venues hosting upcoming shows, argued that Macklemore’s appearance at MetLife had crossed a line between expressing political views and using a major concert platform to present disputed claims without context.

“This was an Ed Sheeran concert – not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event,” the petition said, adding: “Freedom of expression does not mean freedom from responsibility. Your show. Your stage. Your responsibility.”

The Israeli-American Council, which says it represents more than 150,000 Israeli-Americans, also called on supporters to contact concert promoter Live Nation and demand action.

Channel 12 reported that Macklemore would be joining Sheeran at a number of stops on the US leg of the “Loop Tour,” including shows in Philadelphia, Foxborough, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Arlington and Tampa.

Sheeran had not publicly commented on Macklemore’s remarks as of early Sunday.