Macklemore Alleged to Have Repeated Palestine Comments Despite Promoter Assurances to NFL Stadium Owners (Report)

The Macklemore controversy rumbles on, with new reporting alleging that assurances were given to a group of NFL stadium owners that the rapper would not repeat any comments on the issue of Palestine during Macklemore’s second, and ultimately final, stint as the opening act on Ed Sheeran ‘s tour.

In a story published in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday , the newspaper revealed more details of alleged communication between Sheeran, the promoters of Sheeran’s Loop Tour and NFL stadium owners, including New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft , after concerns were raised over Macklemore declaring “Free Palestine” on stage before performing “Hind’s Hall”, his pro-Palestinian song at the MetLife Stadium concert on Sept. 4. Related Stories Music Robert Kraft Responds After Macklemore Invites Him to Match His $1M Donation to Support Palestinian People Music Ed Sheeran Openers Finneas, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe Depart Tour in Solidarity With Macklemore

After the incident, the WSJ reports that representatives of Kraft and other NFL stadium owners — including Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie — reached out to Loop Tour promoters Messina Touring Group about Macklemore’s overtly political comments. The owners were alleged to have been told that Macklemore, who was initially set to feature on 10 dates for Sheeran, would not bring up the issue of Palestine again during his performances.

At the Sept. 5 concert at the MetLife Stadium, however, the Grammy-winning artist said: “One of the reasons why I wanted to come on this tour was because I wanted to stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine! I want to say this to all of my Jewish brothers and sisters. Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.”

Macklemore’s comments on the second of the two Metlife Stadium concerts were picked up by news outlets after the Israeli-American Council petitioned for Sheeran to remove the rapper from his tour. Other pressure groups such as StopAntisemitism and Combat Antisemitism Movement as well as the singer Pink also called for the rapper’s removal.

The WSJ reports that behind the scenes, Kraft and Sheeran had a 40-minute phone call about the Macklemore controversy. Kraft is claimed to have told Sheeran that while he had sympathy for the Palestinian people, Macklemore’s comments in his estimation constituted hate speech, and was not a free speech issue.

After days of media scrutiny and with concerns about the future viability of the Loop Tour without access to NFL stadiums, Messina released a statement on Sept. 14 that Macklemore was dropped from the remaining eight U.S. tour dates. In a statement to Rolling Stone , Messina 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.