Israeli-American Council petitions Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore from tour

Macklemore is facing backlash over his onstage plea to Free Palestine while opening for Ed Sheeran.

After the four-time Grammy winner took the stage for Sheeran's Loop Tour on Friday night at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, he called for "safety and peace" for all before performing his protest song, Hind's Hall.

The Israeli-American Council has since started a petition urging Sheeran to "remove Macklemore" from the remainder of the tour.

"This was an Ed Sheeran concert, not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event," the petition reads.

"The issue is not whether Macklemore has the right to hold political views. The question is where the line should be drawn when an opening act uses a global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda."

The petition also calls for "tour leadership to clarify whether Macklemore's political speech, visual content, and performance of Hind's Hall were approved in advance, and to establish clear boundaries for the use of the tour stage to promote political messaging.

"Freedom of expression does not mean freedom from responsibility. Your show. Your stage. Your responsibility. Keep Ed Sheeran's LOOP Tour about music, not political propaganda."

Macklemore wrote his 2024 protest anthem Hind's Hall in support of pro-Palestinian protests on US college campuses. Hind Rajab was a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed in the Gaza Strip.

Prefacing the song during Friday's show, Macklemore told the audience, "A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine.

"I want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them."