A wave of protests erupted after rapper Macklemore was dropped from British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran\u2019s North American concert series over on-stage comments he had made in support of Palestine at the New Jersey MetLife stadium. The ejection of Macklemore sparked solidarity protests from other artists; tour openers Finneas, Aaron Rowe, and Lukas Graham, and the Irish backing band Beoga left the tour in protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Street demonstrations in solidarity with Macklemore and with Palestine took place in Philadelphia before Sheeran\u2019s Sept. 19 show. Another protest is planned in Boston prior to the Sept. 26 concert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a week of controversy, Sheeran was compelled to address the issue in a statement made before the Philadelphia audience. The statement contained an apology of sorts for his earlier criticisms of Macklemore and for ejecting him from the tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had to take and make difficult decisions and I am making mistakes, and I am so, so sorry,\u201d Sheeran said, adding that he\u2019s never wanted to disappoint fans or be an \u201cactivist musician.\u201d But, he said, he has been thrust into the middle of \u201cimportant and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He explained, \u201cWhen my friends dropped out of this show, I was thinking, how am I going to keep the show the same, and how am I going to get musicians to stand on stage with me in a week where no one wants to stand on stage with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheeran also expressed criticism of Israel\u2019s murderous bombing of Gaza: \u201cWhat is happening in Gaza<\/a> is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet his short speech remained an example of stage-managed centrism, decrying \u201cboth sides\u201d in the conflict in Palestine while remaining non-specific about Israel\u2019s decades of systemic ethnic cleansing, going back well before Oct. 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, the whole debacle represents a victory for Palestinian liberation in the cultural sphere. It shows that in spite of the powerful pressure of a capitalist class in the U.S. that has supported Zionism and its genocidal activity, and the system of commercial incentive that demands compliance, many artists have been influenced by the mass movement that has struggled against Zionism and U.S. imperialism for the past three years and before. And artists often act like a sensor indicating downstream changes in society about what may or may not be acceptable to say and struggle for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The decision to drop Macklemore for his pro-Palestinian comments was not Ed Sheeran\u2019s alone, who remarked <\/a>that he had been pressured by venue owners to drop Macklemore for his act of solidarity. As reported in Al Jazeera<\/a>, The Wall Street Journal<\/a>, and The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>, Sheeran was told by several owners of sports stadiums and teams that retaining Macklemore on the program could cause them to cancel his concert, with Robert Kraft playing a central role in these threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kraft is the owner of the New England Patriots and of Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, where the Ed Sheeran tour is scheduled for Sept. 25 and 26. Kraft also gives millions of dollars to Zionist causes and has been praised by Netanyahu\u2014accused of war crimes and mass starvation by the International Criminal Court<\/a>\u2014as \u201ca friend of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has pro-Zionist politics, having been a prominent critic of protests in solidarity with the Palestinians, and pulled funding from Columbia University after the student encampments there (Donald Trump subsequently used the federal government to deny funding for Columbia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kraft characterized Macklemore\u2019s remarks at MetLife stadium (\u201cFree Palestine, Free Lebanon, Free Cuba\u201d) as \u201chate speech\u201d\u2014employing the typical Zionist strategy of silencing pro-Palestinian voices by equating any criticism of the State of Israel with antisemitism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Robert Kraft shows us that \u201ccancel culture\u201d is a thing for capitalists and big property owners! By controlling access to the venue, these super-wealthy moguls have an outsized power to silence or at the very least limit speech that is inconvenient. This same process occurs with advertising, brand deals, news reporting and a million other intangible resources that the market makes available to compliant voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kraft, of course, did not act alone but also convinced other wealthy people who run stadiums to also cancel Macklemore. In this we see an example of how the ruling class has shared interests. In the case of the United States, the capitalist class is tied by a thousand threads to U.S. imperialism and hence are strategically aligned with Israel, the client state of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For artists, this puts them in a bind. Going against the grain of capitalist (and imperialist) interests has career consequences. Macklemore himself wrote on Instagram <\/a>\u201cTaking a side can cost you. Money, brand deals, sponsorships, festivals, private shows, relationships and access. I\u2019ve lost all of those things.\u201d He sums up perfectly how a creator can suffer dramatically for speaking out. In the same vein, Sheeran felt those same pressures from venue owners and caved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Macklemore, to his great credit, is continuing to fight back. He has now announced a \u201cFree Palestine\u201d concert tour, which will feature him rapping along with other musicians to raise funds for humanitarian causes in Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In regard to the controversy and protests coming out of the cancelations with Sheeran, Macklemore posted on Instagram: \u201cIf these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it\u2019s that something has shifted over the last three years. There has been a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call, and what we expect from artists right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe institutional pressure of the capitalists<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n