Apparently no one read the article:
Macklemore has been removed from the rest of Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour after several venues allegedly told the trek’s promoter that they would not allow the rapper to perform. The news came after Macklemore made several onstage statements in support of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and called for a “free Palestine.”
In an exclusive statement shared with Rolling Stone, Messina Touring Group, promoter of the U.S. leg of Sheeran’s Loop Tour, said: “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. After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”
The option was show with no Macklemore or no show at all…
And that was the decision of the single company that owns almost every major venue in America
Should have called their bluff and asked to cancel the whole show.
What?
It was “individual venues” but it’s a safe assumption it’s Live Nation, because they own most large venues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Nation_Entertainment
And again, it’s not Ed decision anyways:
After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”
Very few artists (certainly not this one) can pay up front for a US stadium tour.
They have financial backers who then have final say, even if they initially let artists make decisions.
You’re right to be mad, but it’s completely unproductive when you’re not mad at the right people.
At least be mad at the people who actually the problem and Ed Sheeran. Instead of mad at Ed Sheeran instead of the right people.
Ed could have also said “Free Palestine”
The show does not have to go on for the benefit of shitheads
According to Macklemore, it was Robert Kraft personally.
It would be hilarious and awesome if Macklemore did free concerts/pro-palestine rallies outside these venues.
Unfortunately, “free” concerts still cost money.
Pretty sure it would be easy to fundraise for this.
Then start fundraising.
Let me get Macklemore on the phone to confirm he’s up for it.
🙄
So, it’s not easy. That’s what the other poster tried to tell you.
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted. You never said it’s impossible or unimportant. But concerts take weeks or months of planning.
Some people want something to happen, but don’t want to make the first step or put work in themself. 🤷♂️
Well Ed fucking sucks. This is more than just passively looking away. Silencing criticism of a genocide makes you actively complicit.
History will remember people like this.
And Macklemore is cool. He might be cringy, but he’s genuine and I like him. Saw him live once and it was one of the best shows I ever saw.
I didn’t like him because his line on his hit song about wearing fur, which I am against. But now, I am 100% behind this muthafucka.
That was notably a line about wearing used fur, not sourcing new fur for new clothes. I think that is an important distinction when evaluating the moral arguments against wearing fur. Still totally valid to be against any fur clothing, but that line feels a lot less immoral to me in context.
Wearing is popularizing.
I am so over that in favour of his standing up for what’s right. But that line wasn’t cool, not to my sensibilities, but I’ve seen footage of trapped animals and it is heart rending. And these fur farms in denmark are fucking disgusting too.
It was a song about thrifting. A song against fast fashion, consumerism, and satirizing displays of wealth. That’s what it was popularizing. It was a line about making the most out of the lot we’re given. It was not a song glorifying the wearing of fur. Fur is poetic shorthand for wealth. You can’t excise a single word or line from a song or poem from it’s context. And if you’d actually listened to the song or watched the video, it’d have been pretty clear that no one wearing gator boots or or mink was cool. It was satire. The line about mink even says that it smells like piss.
It’s not Ed, it’s the industry…
Like Macklemore said himself:
What happened to the artist? What d’you got to say?
If I was on a label, you could drop me today
I’d be fine with it 'cause the heart fed my page
I want a ceasefire, fuck a response from Drake (Woo)
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…
Macklemore continued: “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.’”
‘I don’t take sides.’”
What an absolute bitch. Take a fucking side.
The point of ed sheeran is to be as bland as the average isekai/harem protagonist
