Macklemore, Ed Sheeran, Robert Kraft and the curious modern phenomenon where every minority deserves to be heard… right up until the minority is Jewish.
Well. This has gone spectacularly pear-shaped.
A week ago, I was irritated.
Today, I am somewhere between furious, bewildered and wondering whether somebody has accidentally replaced large sections of the music industry with particularly stupid AI.
Because what started with Macklemore turning two Ed Sheeran concerts into his own personal political rally has now become something far more revealing.
Macklemore has been booted from the tour. Except Ed Sheeran didn’t boot him. Robert Kraft and other stadium owners effectively did. Ed has made a point of telling us it wasn’t his decision. Macklemore has responded by doubling down. Every other support act has flounced off in solidarity. And Sheeran’s own backing band has joined them. It’s become less of a concert tour and more of a travelling production of Everybody Look How Principled I Am. Pass the popcorn 🍿
LET’S START WITH ROBERT KRAFT
Because somebody in this circus appears to have located his spine.
Robert Kraft is Jewish. He owns the New England Patriots. His Kraft Group owns Gillette Stadium.
He’s a longtime supporter of Israel and has spent serious amounts of his own money fighting antisemitism.
When Macklemore was due to arrive at Gillette as part of Ed Sheeran’s tour, Kraft essentially said:
No. Not here.
And I bloody applaud him for it.
Not because Macklemore supports Palestinians.
Let’s get that out of the way before somebody starts furiously typing.
Supporting Palestinians is not antisemitic. Wanting Palestinian children to live safely is not antisemitic.Wanting Palestinian statehood is not antisemitic.
Criticising Netanyahu isn’t antisemitic. Criticising Israel isn’t antisemitic. Criticising so-called “settlements” isn’t antisemitic.
Are we all comfortable now? Good. Lovely. Now we can perhaps continue without requiring crayons.
Kraft’s actual position was considerably more intelligent than the cartoon version now being circulated about him.
He explicitly acknowledged the suffering of innocent Palestinians. He explicitly acknowledged their right to advocacy. He said their pain was real.
And then he said that, in his view, Macklemore’s rhetoric and history had crossed a line into something he would not allow at his stadium.
That’s it!
His stadium. His line. His decision.
And here’s the really inconvenient bit.
Macklemore later announced a $1 million donation towards Palestinian causes and challenged Kraft to match it.
Kraft reportedly said yes. [1] Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Because apparently Robert Kraft is capable of doing the thing much of the internet currently finds neurologically impossible:
Being compassionate for Palestinians while also standing up for Jews.
Who knew the human brain was capable of such processing power? Somebody alert Apple.
We may have found the M7 chip.
THEN THE OTHER STADIUMS JOINED IN
And suddenly Macklemore had a problem.
The tour promoter, Messina Touring Group, said upcoming venues had informed them they would not host the concerts with Macklemore on the bill.
Venues. Plural.
The choice therefore became rather simple: Remove Macklemore or potentially lose major stadium dates affecting hundreds of thousands of ticket holders.
So the promoter removed him. [2]
Macklemore says Kraft helped rally other stadium owners. Maybe he did. Maybe Kraft owns a secret red telephone with little stadium-shaped buttons on it. We do after all control the banks, the media, the weather and now apparently, all the sports stadiums in America too.
I don’t know. And neither, unless they were in those conversations, does everybody furiously asserting it online.
What we do know is that Kraft openly said Macklemore wasn’t welcome at Gillette and multiple other venues subsequently refused him too. [2]
That’s enough for me. No conspiracy board required. Put the string and drawing pins away.
AND THEN ED SHEERAN FINALLY FOUND HIS VOICE
Sort of. After several days of deafening silence, Ed Sheeran eventually explained that Macklemore’s removal: “was not mine.”
That’s the bit he seemed particularly keen for everyone to understand. Not. My. Decision.
He said he had spent days trying to mediate between everyone involved. He said he wanted his concerts to be about unity and escapism rather than politics. He said he has his own views about Israel and Gaza but chooses not to use his platform to broadcast them. And he stressed that he hadn’t personally removed Macklemore. [3]
Okay. I actually have some sympathy for Ed here. Seriously.
He has a gigantic tour. Hundreds of thousands of tickets. Thousands of people whose wages depend on those shows. Contracts. Promoters. Stadiums. Crew. Insurance.
And suddenly his friend has wandered onto the stage and dropped one of the most toxic geopolitical arguments on Earth into the middle of Perfect and Shape of You.
Not ideal.
But here’s where I struggle. Ed says his concerts aren’t political arenas.
Great. Perfect!
I’m completely with you. So why was your support act allowed to turn them into one?
You don’t get to say: “My concerts are about escapism and bringing people together.”
…while defending the right of the bloke immediately before you to turn the stadium into a political demonstration. Those two ideas don’t live together particularly comfortably.
They’re like hummus and Nutella. Both perfectly legitimate – great in fact. Just perhaps not in the same bowl.
AND NO, ED’S SILENCE WASN’T NOTHING
I’m not calling Ed Sheeran antisemitic or anti-Israel. I have precisely zero evidence that he is either and nor would I claim or infer that he is. I’m not claiming he secretly agrees with Macklemore. I don’t know what he believes. And that is the point.
He appears to be trying desperately not to tell us. But silence doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
If an opening act on your tour creates an enormous controversy affecting a minority community, Jewish organisations complain, venue owners revolt and the thing becomes international news, eventually: “I’d rather not get involved” becomes involvement.
Not necessarily agreement. But certainly a choice.
As Einstein famously said: “If I were to remain silent, I’d be guilty of complicity.”
And when Ed finally did speak, the sentence that seemed most urgent was not: “I understand why Jewish fans are upset.”
It was: “This wasn’t my decision.”
That’s what bothers me.
Robert Kraft stepped forward.
Ed stepped sideways.
NOW ENTER MACKLEMORE
Holy moly!
This is where I need another coffee. Except I don’t drink coffee.
So let’s just sigh heavily instead and reach for my herbal tea.
Macklemore hasn’t responded to the controversy by thinking: Interesting. A significant number of Jewish people are telling me something about the way my rhetoric is landing. Perhaps I should understand why.
No.
He’s come charging out of the tunnel like Braveheart with a microphone. He’s framed what happened as an effort to silence him. He’s talked about pressure from Zionist organisations and powerful venue owners. He’s doubled down on his message.
He’s effectively presented himself as somebody suffering consequences because he dared speak truth to power. [2]
Ben. Dude. Honestly! You have not been silenced.
I know this because I cannot stop hearing from you.
You have millions of followers. International press coverage. Streaming platforms. Social media. Concerts. A recording career.A public statement circulated around the world. Celebrity supporters.
And apparently enough access to the global media that every time you breathe near Instagram it becomes a Guardian article.
This is not being silenced.
Macklemore losing his slot on somebody else’s stadium tour is not censorship.
He is still entirely free to stand on his own stage and shout “Free Palestine” until the lighting rig falls over.
Freedom of speech means Macklemore can say it. Freedom of speech also means Robert Kraft can say: Not in my f#@king stadium.
That’s how freedom works.
It isn’t: “I have a sacred human right to your stage, your electricity, your ticket-buyers and your enormous PA system.”
That’s not free speech. That’s an Airbnb booking with delusions of grandeur.
AND THIS IS WHAT MAKES MACKLEMORE SO BLOODY INFURIATING TO ME
Here’s the personal bit. I liked Macklemore. Actually, scratch that. I really liked Macklemore.
And I didn’t discover him through Thrift Shop. I discovered him through Same Love. What an incredible song.
In 2012, when parts of hip-hop were still openly hostile towards gay people and America was still fighting over same-sex marriage, this straight white rapper stuck his head above the parapet and said: “This isn’t okay.”
He challenged homophobia inside his own industry.
Not somebody else’s tribe. His. And that matters.
I remember hearing Same Love and thinking: Good for you. This bloke gets it. He understands what allyship means. He understands that when a minority says:
“The way you’re talking about us is hurting us,”
You don’t immediately explain to them why they’re wrong.
You listen. You question your own tribe. You risk upsetting your own audience. You stand beside people who need someone standing beside them.
That’s courage. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with his music.
Which makes all of this completely bloody bonkers.
Because the man who built one of the defining songs of his career around listening to one minority now appears spectacularly reluctant to apply the same principle when Jews say:
Mate, there’s a problem here.
Apparently we get:
“Different Love. Same Love.*
Terms and conditions apply. Jews excluded in selected territories.
SO LET ME ASK THE BLEEDING OBVIOUS QUESTION
Do Jews count? Really. Because I’m beginning to wonder.
When the LGBT community says language is dangerous, progressives quite rightly listen.
When Black communities say imagery is racist, people listen.
When Muslims say something is Islamophobic, people listen.
When trans people say language feels threatening, people listen.
Not always perfectly. Not universally. But the basic modern principle is: Maybe listen to the minority experiencing it.
Then Jews say: “This rhetoric frightens us.”
And suddenly everybody has a PhD.
“Well technically…” “It’s important to distinguish…” “Zionism isn’t Judaism…” “Have you considered colonial theory…”
Holy shit!
Apparently antisemitism is the only -ism requiring approval from the person accused of it before Jewish people are allowed to notice.
AND MACKLEMORE HAS BEEN HERE BEFORE
Which makes the whole thing even stranger.
In 2014, Macklemore appeared on stage disguised in a dark wig, beard and an enormous fake nose.
Lots of people looked at it and saw an antisemitic Jewish caricature.
Macklemore said that wasn’t his intention. He explained the disguise. He apologised. And importantly, the Anti-Defamation League accepted his explanation and apology. [4]
Excellent. That’s how grown-ups should behave.
I’m not going to retroactively declare that he secretly intended to mock Jews. I wasn’t inside his head. He said he didn’t. He apologised. Apology accepted.
Finished.
But surely something survived the experience? Surely Macklemore learned this extraordinarily complicated lesson:
WHAT YOU INTEND AND WHAT OTHER PEOPLE EXPERIENCE ARE NOT ALWAYS THE SAME THING.
That’s basically Same Love in a nutshell.
Yet here we are twelve years later with Jewish people saying: “This is landing somewhere very ugly.”
And instead of curiosity, we get another lecture. You’ve already taken this class, Ben. There was homework.
THEN THE SUPPORT ACTS DECIDED WE NEEDED MORE DRAMA
Because obviously this story hadn’t become stupid enough.
Finneas quit. Lukas Graham quit. Aaron Rowe quit. Beoga quit.
Beoga, incidentally, weren’t merely another support act. They have performed as Sheeran’s backing band.
All of them withdrew after Macklemore was removed. [5]
And they are completely entitled to do that. Their careers. Their labour. Their choice. Off you pop.
But please spare me the Rosa Parks soundtrack.
Nobody has jailed Macklemore. Nobody has banned Macklemore’s music. Nobody has confiscated his passport. Nobody has switched off the internet in Seattle. Nobody has sewn his mouth shut.
Private stadium owners said: We don’t want this at our venues.
The musicians responded: Then we don’t want to play.
Fine.
That’s not oppression. That’s Tuesday.
Everybody made a decision. Everybody experienced consequences. Welcome to adulthood.
BEOGA MANAGED TO MAKE IT EVEN WORSE
Beoga reportedly described Macklemore’s removal as the result of his being silenced by “zionist lobbies.” [5]
There it is. Again. “Zionists.”
Funny little word these days.
It’s increasingly used in sentences where, if you replaced it with “Jews”, everybody in the room might suddenly become rather uncomfortable.
Robert Kraft isn’t hiding behind a curtain. We know who he is.
He’s Jewish. He’s pro-Israel. He owns Gillette Stadium. He told them exactly what he thought.
There wasn’t a secret underground Zionist council meeting at midnight. As far as I know nobody sacrificed a goat.
A Jewish stadium owner publicly exercised his rights over his own stadium.
And somehow we’ve arrived at: ZIONIST LOBBIES.
Could we possibly turn the temperature down from 1938? Just a notch?
AND THEN THERE’S KANYE
Because the universe clearly decided my original joke wasn’t ridiculous enough.
When I first wrote about this mess, I said all we needed now was Kanye West selling his swastika merchandise in the Ed Sheeran concourse to really round the evening off. That was satire.
Let me repeat for any lawyer who has inexplicably stumbled onto Tribe613 while billing £750 an hour: KANYE WEST IS NOT SELLING SWASTIKA MERCHANDISE AT ED SHEERAN CONCERTS.
There. Happy?
The unfortunate problem is that Ye really did put a swastika-emblazoned T-shirt on his Yeezy website in 2025 before Shopify shut the shop down. [6] And now reality has decided to invade the joke even further.
Sheeran’s North American tour is scheduled to conclude at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. A venue that hosted Ye earlier this year. [2]
Of course it did.
Because apparently G-d has given up subtlety and is now writing satire himself.
At this point perhaps the merchandise stand should just read: ED SHEERAN LOOP TOUR: T-SHIRTS, HOODIES, PROGRAMMES, GEOPOLITICAL TRAUMA £35
Card payments accepted.
BUT HERE’S THE BIT EVERYONE KEEPS DELIBERATELY MISSING
This isn’t about banning “Free Palestine”.
Say it. Put it on a T-shirt. March with it. Sing it. Paint it on your recycling bin. Whatever makes you feel complete.
The issue is what else travels with the slogan.
The grotesque simplification of a conflict involving Jews, Palestinians, Israelis, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, hostages, settlements, terrorism, occupation, Islamism, history, religion, nationalism and enough bloodshed to fill several libraries.
Macklemore’s presentation has been passionately one-sided.
That’s his right.
I’m allowed to think it’s intellectually juvenile.
That’s my right.
And when Jewish organisations and Jewish people say parts of this movement have mutated into something frighteningly hostile towards Jews, the correct response from somebody who built a reputation on minority solidarity perhaps shouldn’t be: No it hasn’t. You’re weaponising antisemitism.
That’s precisely what you would never dream of saying to almost any other minority.
Imagine the scene. An artist appears on Ed Sheeran’s tour in blackface. Black organisations complain. The venue owner refuses to host them again.
And four support acts storm off, declaring that the artist has been “silenced”.
Would we really be having this conversation? Would BBC arts correspondents be gravely discussing the complex philosophical implications of venue ownership? Would celebrities be issuing heroic statements about the artist’s courage? Would anyone dare tell Black people that they had simply misunderstood the performer’s intentions?
Of course not. And rightly so.
I’m not saying Macklemore’s performance is equivalent to blackface. The comparison is about response.
When a minority says: “Something is wrong here.”
Do you listen? Or do you explain? With Jews, increasingly, everybody seems desperate to explain.
AND THIS IS WHY ROBERT KRAFT COMES OUT OF THIS LOOKING RATHER GOOD
He didn’t need a hashtag. He didn’t release twelve Instagram slides in beige Helvetica. He didn’t speak in celebrity Esperanto about “holding space”. He simply said: I believe a line has been crossed. This is my stadium. Not here.
Then, when Macklemore pledged money to help Palestinians and challenged Kraft to do likewise, Kraft reportedly agreed to match it. [1]
That’s rather magnificent.
Because it completely destroys the infantile idea that the only two available positions are:
Macklemore = cares about Palestinians
Kraft = hates Palestinians
No.
Kraft can believe Macklemore crossed a line and help Palestinian civilians.
That’s what moral adulthood looks like.
Several things can be true at once.
Crazy concept, I know.
AND WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE ED?
Somewhere uncomfortably close to the middle of the motorway.
I don’t think Ed Sheeran is the villain of this story.
But neither do I think: “It wasn’t my decision” is enough.
His friend used his platform. His tour descended into chaos. Jewish organisations objected. Stadium owners revolted. Every support act walked. His backing band walked. And Ed appears determined to remain Switzerland with a guitar.
Eventually neutrality stops being calming.
It starts looking evasive. You don’t need to endorse Israel. You don’t need to endorse Palestine. You don’t need to become an expert on borders, Oslo, 1948, 1967 or international humanitarian law.
Just say something incredibly simple: Jewish people matter. Palestinian people matter. Antisemitism is unacceptable. Hamas is unacceptable. Civilian suffering is unacceptable. War is hell. And my concerts are not political rallies.
Done. Use it. I’ll even waive the copywriting fee.
AND WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE MACKLEMORE?
This is what genuinely saddens me. Because I still remember hearing Same Love.
I still remember thinking that the bloke singing it understood something important about people. Something bigger than politics.
That minorities do not need permission to tell the majority when something hurts. That prejudice thrives when otherwise decent people dismiss it. That solidarity means listening, particularly when what you’re hearing is uncomfortable.
I believed him.
And maybe that’s why this feels like such a betrayal of the principles I thought the song represented. Not because Macklemore supports Palestinians.
He should support Palestinians if that’s what he believes. But because the empathy appears to have developed a curious boundary. The Jewish one. So perhaps Same Love needs a 2026 remix.
Same Love. Different Rules.
Because if your solidarity embraces every minority except the one currently telling you that something is wrong… it isn’t solidarity.
If your commitment to lived experience mysteriously evaporates when the people describing that experience are Jews… it isn’t allyship.
And if the only Jews you’re prepared to listen to are the ones who already agree with you… you’re not actually listening to Jews.
You’re listening to yourself with Jewish subtitles.
Robert Kraft listened. Then he acted.
Macklemore shouted louder.
His fellow artists walked away.
And Ed Sheeran stood in the middle, insisting he didn’t choose any of it.
What a strange little snapshot of 2026. Everyone performing courage. Everyone demanding to be heard.
And somehow, once again, the Jews asking to be listened to are the problem.
Same Love. Apparently.
Am Yisrael Chai. 🎗️
SOURCES
1. Associated Press
Macklemore / Robert Kraft dispute, Palestinian-relief donation and Kraft’s agreement to match it.
Associated Press report
2. The Guardian
Macklemore’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour, venue objections and subsequent controversy.
Guardian report on Macklemore being dropped
3. Reuters
Ed Sheeran’s statement that removing Macklemore “was not my decision” and his comments on the tour controversy.
Reuters report on Sheeran’s response
4. The Guardian
Macklemore’s 2014 costume controversy, his explanation and apology, and the ADL’s response.
Guardian report on Macklemore’s 2014 apology
5. Jewish Telegraphic Agency / The Guardian
Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe and Beoga withdrawing from the tour, including Beoga’s statement referring to “zionist lobbies”.
JTA report on the support acts withdrawing
Guardian report on the support-act walkout
6. The Verge
Shopify’s removal of Ye’s Yeezy store after a swastika-emblazoned T-shirt was offered for sale.
The Verge report on the Yeezy store
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