The Macklemore-Ed Sheeran Dispute is a corporate threat to free speech

Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of, among a ton of other stuff, the New England Patriots and its stadium, allegedly pressured Ed Sheeran and his team to remove rapper Macklemore from his tour after Macklemore voiced support for Palestinians amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza. All four of the remaining opening acts withdrew from the tour in solidarity with Macklemore by Tuesday afternoon.

“Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” Finneas, a music artist best known for co-writing and producing much of his sister Billie Eilish’s work, wrote on Instagram. “I have decided to withdraw from my upcoming tour dates with Ed Sheeran. I stand with Palestine and its people.”

On Monday, Macklemore alleged that Kraft told Sheeran that he would not be permitted to perform at his New England Patriots NFL venue, Gillette Stadium, at a show scheduled for later this month. Kraft also rallied some other stadium owners to support Macklemore’s removal. 

“Collectively they gave [Sheeran] an ultimatum: If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues,” the rapper recounted. 

Macklemore opened for two shows on Sheeran’s tour, playing at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on September 4 and 5. During his set, the rapper performed “Hind’s Hall,” his 2024 song that voices support for protests on college campuses demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza war, divestment from Israel, and an end to the genocide. Activists renamed Hamilton Hall at Columbia University to “Hind’s Hall” to honor Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by the IDF in 2024. 

“Free Palestine,” Macklemore said to many cheers from the crowd before performing the song. “I want to say those words loud and clear so the people of Gaza all the way to the West Bank know that we have not forgotten them.”

According to The Guardian, the other owners who allegedly opposed future Macklemore performances oversee venues hosting Sheeran’s previously scheduled shows in Philadelphia (September 19), Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Arlington, and Tampa. Notably, all of these stadiums are home to NFL teams—the Eagles, Falcons, Panthers, Colts, Cowboys, and Buccaneers, respectively. (Only two other shows are on Sheeran’s US leg of the tour, both at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida.)  

These venues may be publicly owned, but they’re branded by corporations and controlled by billionaire team owners. This arrangement has become a mechanism for corporate censorship of political speech. Kanye West, who has a well-documented history of making antisemitic statements, performed in Tampa in June and is scheduled to play at the Cowboys’ stadium in November. So far, there’s been no pushback from owners. Pro-Palestinian speech, by contrast, gets an artist blacklisted.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) placed the focus on Kraft when asked about the removal of Macklemore on Tuesday. 

“When you see what Robert Kraft did to line up all of the stadiums to censor speech in that one specific way, it’s become clear that this is not just about one music artist or two music artists, but this is about how just a handful of stadium owners and the elite can prevent an entire massive issue, in this case, the genocide in Gaza,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a clip shared by Fox News.

This isn’t the first instance of this kind of censorship over Gaza. Massive Attack, Bella Hadid, and Kehlani have all faced similar backlash. But the Macklemore-Ed Sheeran case may be the most prominent yet, given both its scale and what’s now known about how the decision was allegedly made. If Ed Sheeran, the sixth most-streamed artist of all time on Spotify as of April, isn’t safe, then no one is. 

Macklemore said it best in his Monday announcement: “The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women, and children who have been killed, starved, displaced, and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don’t lose sight of that.”

And on Wednesday afternoon, the rapper pledged to donate his $1 million in net earnings from the tour to “six organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people.”

“I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation,” Macklemore wrote in the social media post. “Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting.”