Macklemore has been dropped from the remainder of singer Ed Sheeran’s U.S. tour after several venues objected to hosting the rapper, according to the tour’s promoter, following the rapper’s chants of “Free Palestine” and comments and imagery on Gaza during two recent opening sets for Sheeran. 

“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,” Messina Touring Group, the promoter of the U.S. leg of Sheeran’s Loop Tour, told Rolling Stone on Monday, “After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.” 

Macklemore sparked controversy earlier this month when, during his opening sets at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, he declared he joined Sheeran’s tour to “stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: ‘Free Palestine,’” as images of Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas played on the stadium’s screens. He then performed his 2024 song “Hind’s Hall,” a nod to the anti-Israel campus encampment movement at Columbia University, which accuses Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid.” The performance drew swift condemnation from Jewish groups including the Israeli American Council and the Anti-Defamation League, which called for his removal from the tour. 

Among the eight remaining shows on Sheeran’s tour, Macklemore was set to open for the singer at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on Sept. 25 and Sept. 26. In an Instagram post, Macklemore claimed that Robert Kraft, the venue’s owner and longtime philanthropist in the fight against antisemitism, rallied the other stadium owners to get him dropped from the venues.

Kraft and the other owners gave Sheeran “an ultimatum,” Macklemore claimed: “If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.’”

“[Ed] 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,” the rapper wrote. 

Other venues that reportedly will no longer host the rapper include: Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia; Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.; AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

The “Thrift Shop” rapper has previously faced antisemitism accusations: During a 2014 performance, he wore a costume featuring an oversized prosthetic nose and black beard, which critics said was meant to resemble a Jewish man. Macklemore later apologized for the costume. 

In a statement, Kraft, the founder of the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, said that the decision came following Macklemore’s “recent actions” and “history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery,” adding that the rapper crossed a line the stadium would not platform.

“Gillette Stadium has a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests and ensuring that events held at our venue do not provide a platform for hate speech. Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line.

“This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf,” continued Kraft. “Their pain and loss are real. But that advocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure the responsibility of Hamas.”

Kraft said he would “welcome the opportunity to sit down with Macklemore and discuss the facts, because ultimately our goal is the same – peace for all people, an end to suffering, and an end to all hate.”