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Macklemore Dropped From Ed Sheeran Tour After Onstage ‘Free Palestine’ Statements
(www.rollingstone.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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It's not Ed, it's the industry...
Like Macklemore said himself:
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....
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.
The choice was:
Go along with Macklemore getting removed.
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.
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.
"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?
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.
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?
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.
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
Foxy got enough money to just say fuck it tho 🤷🏻 and that would help
I guess Ed Sheeran was... Warned.