MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The saga of musicians Ed Sheeran and Macklemore continues to spiral. What began with a political statement on stage now involves billionaire sports team owners, musicians quitting a tour, millions of dollars in donations. Let's bring in NPR's music's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento. Hey there.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.
KELLY: For those of us catching up, where do we even start?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So you have to go back to September 4, when Macklemore was opening for a show by Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. During his performance, he said part of the reason he wanted to play these shows was to be able to say free Palestine onstage.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MACKLEMORE: I want those words to be loud and clear so the people from Gaza all the way to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: He went on to perform a song called "Hind's Hall," which was written in tribute to the students at Columbia University who camped out to protest Israel's war in Gaza.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HIND'S HALL")
MACKLEMORE: (Rapping) ...Against what our country is funding. Block the barricade until Palestine is free. Block the barricade until Palestine is free. When I was 7, I learned a lesson.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Macklemore also referenced conflicts in Lebanon and Sudan, and he railed against ICE, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
KELLY: OK. So Macklemore says all these things. After those performances, he gets kicked off the tour. Did he give a reason why? Did Ed Sheeran give a reason why?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So on Monday, Macklemore posted a statement on his social media saying he was off the tour. He was supposed to play several more shows on this U.S. leg of Ed Sheeran's tour. Macklemore wrote that stadium owner Robert Kraft had refused to host him at his venue. Ed Sheeran put out his own statement saying it was the tour's promoter who ultimately decided to remove Macklemore. That promoter, Messina Touring, told NPR that the decision was made because of pressure from the venue owners.
Robert Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium in Boston and multiple sports teams who play there, confirmed to Rolling Stone that he blocked Macklemore from performing at his stadium over the MetLife speech and what he called a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery. He seems to be alluding to a costume Macklemore wore on stage in 2014, which drew backlash for appearing to be an antisemitic caricature. Macklemore apologized for that costume back in 2014.
KELLY: Meanwhile, we said this is spiraling, and one of the ways it's spiraling is other artists on the tour, who are now all responding with their feet to Macklemore's removal.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: That's correct. Basically, all of the other opening acts on the tour have dropped out. The singers Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe, who were supposed to open for the rest of the U.S. tour, they announced they were leaving. The musician Finneas, who's best known for his work with his sister, Billie Eilish, he says he's no longer going to be opening for Sheeran on the South American part of the tour. And then the Irish band Beoga, which has a very long history of playing with Sheeran and was actually his backing band on stage, they also dropped out. All of the musicians wrote that they stood in solidarity with Palestinian people and that they couldn't support the silencing of another artist.
KELLY: OK. But go back. Ed Sheeran himself - what is he saying?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Ed Sheeran has tried really hard to stay apolitical in all of this. In his original social media statement, he wrote that he's appalled by the conflict in Israel and Gaza, but that he doesn't believe in using his platform to discuss politics. He has not publicly issued another statement since the other artists left the tour, but he's in the middle of a pretty furious exchange right now.
Yesterday, Macklemore pledged to donate his $1 million salary from those first shows to aid groups in Gaza. He challenged Robert Kraft to do the same. Now Kraft and Sheeran say they will be donating $2 million each, though, they haven't specified which organizations the funds will go to. There are 10 shows left in Sheeran's U.S. tour, and then he's scheduled to perform in Latin America through December, so we'll be keeping an eye on how it goes.
KELLY: Sounds like war in the Middle East leading into a spiraling of war amongst musicians. NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, thanks so much for your reporting.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAKAELA SONG, "YOU FOR ME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
