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American rapper Macklemore has been dropped from shows part of singer Ed Sheeran’s US tour after his speeches at two of the earlier shows called for a “Free Palestine”, Sheeran’s tour promoters said on Monday.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, the promotion agency Messina Touring Group said, “As the concert promoter for Ed Sheeran’s US Loop Tour, we have been notified by venues on the upcoming US 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. After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”

Macklemore responded to the news on Instagram, saying he didn’t know what to say after hearing he had been dropped from the tour, so he was “going to speak from the heart and share the truth”.

The rapper said Sheeran was not the victim here — and neither was singer Pink, who criticised the rapper’s comments on Instagram earlier — the real victims were “the men, women and children [in Palestine] who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence.”

Macklemore said Sheeran was a friend and nothing in his response was meant to “tear down his character”.

“But as I told Ed multiple times over the phone, our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.”

The rapper explained that Sheeran had told him he received a call from businessman Robert Kraft — the owner of Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, where the two were set to perform — saying the tour stop would not go ahead unless Macklemore was dropped.

Sheeran, he said, was in a difficult position, “His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before.” Macklemore said he and the singer had a back and forth on the subject, but in the end the singer’s stance remained that he doesn’t “take sides”.

The rapper said he gets why someone wouldn’t take sides — it has its cost. “But there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed. When one side has the bombs and bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle.”

Macklemore said his advocacy on stage and Sheeran’s implicit support might have encouraged others to speak out, which is maybe why it was so important to “silence” him.

He also called out the weaponisation of antisemitism allegations, saying, “When criticising Israel, opposing Zionism or saying ‘Free Palestine’ gets conflated with hatred of the Jewish people, it doesn’t protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.”

“There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed,” Macklemore said.

The rapper said he hoped this doesn’t sour his ties with Sheeran and that this “painful disagreement” doesn’t end 13 years of friendship. He also said he didn’t need all 10 of the shows he was scheduled to do with the singer, just two were enough.

He said if saying free Palestine cost him his stage but meaningfully shifted the conversation, “then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on”.

Macklemore has been outspoken about his support for Palestine, but this recent outburst from pro-Israel figures and organisations comes after the rapper addressed one of Sheeran’s concerts in New York on September 4. His calls for a “Free Palestine” on stage sparked a petition from the American Israeli Council wishing to see him booted from the tour.

He responded to the backlash by releasing a speech from the venue on Instagram, where he reiterated his stance and said he wanted the 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”.

The rapper made these remarks before performing ‘Hind’s Hall’, his 2024 protest song paying tribute to US students rallying against Israel’s war on Gaza.

In a statement, Kraft confirmed he had threatened to not let Sheeran’s shows go ahead if Macklemore was part of them, citing his “recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery”.

The venue owner said he agrees with the rapper that too many people have been killed and too many people have suffered, but, “much of my time and attention for the last decade has been focused on the fight against antisemitism and hate of all kinds, and I feel a responsibility to stand up when I believe that line has been crossed.”

Kraft said he would “welcome the opportunity to sit down with Macklemore and discuss the facts, because ultimately our goal is the same — peace for all people, an end to suffering, and an end to all hate”.

The Kraft Group has long been associated with Israel, with the website for the family’s philanthropic initiatives including a separate section for projects undertaken in the country.

The controversy has attracted support for Macklemore, notably from children’s entertainer Miss Rachel, who said, “Ed Sheeran had an opportunity [to] show we won’t be bullied into punishing people for supporting Palestine. Instead, he caved to people refusing to accept what the world knows. A genocide is happening in Gaza. We all need to speak out against it.”

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg also voiced her support in the comments under Macklemore’s post, saying, “Full solidarity and free Palestine. Artists’ very active silence in the face of injustice and genocide will not be forgotten.”