The Petition Wanted Macklemore Off Ed Sheeran's Tour. Now He Is.

Twelve days ago, IF Daily told you about the petition. Macklemore had turned his opening set at MetLife Stadium into a pro-Palestinian statement two nights running, and fans were demanding Ed Sheeran drop him from the rest of the Loop Tour. Now there's an answer, and it isn't the one a petition usually gets: Macklemore is out.

On September 4, during his set opening for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium, Macklemore told the crowd to "Free Palestine" before performing "Hind's Hall," his song supporting pro-Palestinian protests. According to Macklemore and the tour's promoter, that moment is what set off the chain of events that ended with him off the bill entirely.

Messina Touring Group, which promotes the U.S. leg of Sheeran's tour, said it had been notified by several venues that they would not allow Macklemore to perform there — a list that reportedly included Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The promoter said the standoff put the entire tour at risk, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of ticket holders, and that after talking with stakeholders, Macklemore would not be performing on the remaining support dates.

In a statement posted to Instagram, Macklemore said the decision didn't come from Sheeran himself. "Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium," he wrote, pointing to Robert Kraft — the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium — as the person who pressured the tour to cut him. Macklemore framed it as a campaign against him specifically, not a neutral business call by the venues.

Sheeran addressed the fallout himself, saying dropping Macklemore was "the promoter's decision, not mine," distancing himself personally from the call while declining to weigh in on the Israel-Palestine conflict more broadly — the same subject Macklemore had used his own set to speak directly about.

What started as a fan campaign demanding Macklemore's removal ended up getting exactly what it asked for — just not through Sheeran making the call directly. Whether Macklemore performs any further dates on the tour remains unresolved, but as of now, the stadiums that objected have gotten their way, and the artist who used his mic to make a political statement is the one who's no longer on stage to make it.