After a week of speculation, Macklemore has been dropped from the Ed Sheeran Loop tour.
However, in a statement, the rapper has made it clear he does not blame Sheeran for this turn of events and points the finger clearly at one Robert Kraft. The 85-year-old Kraft is the owner of the New England Patriots and owns the Gillette Stadium, where Sheeran and Macklemore were due to play on 25 and 26 September. Macklemore claims that Kraft rallied other stadium owners on the tour to ban him from their venues.
In the post, Macklemore said: “Ed was in a fucked up position. He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before. He 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. But he couldn’t get past his public facing, ‘I don’t take sides.’"
“And I get why people don’t. Taking a side can cost you. Money, brand deals, sponsorships, festivals, private shows, relationships and access. I’ve lost all of those things. But there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed. When one side has the bombs and bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle.”
Since Macklemore’s post, Kraft himself has defended his decision in a statement: “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.”
He continued: “This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf. 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, a United States and globally (including Canada, European Union, United Kingdom, and Japan) designated terrorist organisation whose horrific actions have caused immeasurable suffering for Palestinians and Israelis alike.”
Kraft added that 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.”
One wonders if the rapper will take the billionaire sports owner up on that offer...
