Macklemore is no longer a part of Ed Sheeran’s tour after saying “Free Palestine” on stage, and children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel has a lot to say about that.
On September 14, it was reported that Macklemore had been removed from Ed’s tour. The decision sparked a ton of backlash, and Ms. Rachel took to social media to share her thoughts. In a series of posts, she addressed the tour controversy and wrote that Ed ultimately “caved.”
Concert venues reportedly had an issue with Macklemore performing there.
In a statement shared with Rolling Stone, the tour’s promoter, Messina Touring Group, said, “As the concert promoter for Ed Sheeran’s U.S. Loop Tour, we have been notified by venues on the upcoming U.S. 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.”
They continued, “After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.” Per the publication, Macklemore had been set to perform at eight more shows on the U.S. leg of the tour.
The decision disgusted tons of people, and Ed later addressed the controversy in a lengthy statement shared via Instagram. In the post, he explained that he “spoke with the venues at length all week to try and build a bridge… but the venue’s and promoter’s decision was final.”
A lot of people were not satisfied with Ed’s statement.
In it, he wrote that the decision to drop Macklemore from the tour was the promoter’s decision and not his. He also directly addressed the complaints that he is “complicit,” claiming that he is not.
“I have my personal views on this devastating conflict,” he wrote. “Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn’t mean I don’t have them, and it doesn’t mean I don’t care.”
He also explained why he tries to refrain from sharing his own personal views. “There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics – my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds,” he wrote. “Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum. I respect Macklemore’s strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes.”
He added, “However, there is room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace. I choose to use my fame and platform to be a place of safety and sanctuary, to maintain diplomacy and keep conversations open, not closed.”
Ms. Rachel was clearly not satisfied with this response.
She chose to address the singer and this tour controversy in multiple different posts. And she named names. “Ed Sheeran had an opportunity to show that we won’t be bullied into punishing people for supporting Palestine,” she wrote on Instagram. “Instead he caved to people who refuse to accept what the world knows. A genocide is happening in Gaza. We all need to speak out against it.”
In the comments, one person wrote, “Imagine being called out by Ms. Rachel. The teacher of the internet. Go stand in the corner and think about what you have done.”
But Ms. Rachel didn’t stop there. In a follow-up post, she wrote, “Imagine looking back 20 years from now at yourself kicking someone off a tour because they spoke out during a genocide that has killed over 20,000 kids.”
She also said what Macklemore did was “not wrong.”
“It’s not wrong to say Palestinian people should be able to be free and Palestinian kids should be able to grow up,” she wrote in another post. “It’s wrong to be silent during a genocide.”
She was also bothered by the “terribly unfortunate and callous” way in which Ed described what Macklemore did as using his “professional platform for politics.”
In another post on the topic, she referred to the singer by name again and mentioned how he previously performed at the Concert for Ukraine in 2022. “Ed Sheeran is making a political statement to his fans when he does a concert to support Ukraine, but considers Palestine too dangerous and political,” she wrote.
Fans praised Ms. Rachel for calling Ed out.
“A real child rights advocate vs someone using children listeners as a shield from criticism,” someone wrote on Reddit. “She’s a kind and decent person through and through.”
Others appreciate how relentless she seemed. “I’m loving that she’s not letting go,” another Redditor commented.
And, of course, many noted that it’s hard to imagine being publicly criticized by Ms. Rachel, of all people. “Imagine getting dragged by Ms. Rachel, who’s basically the new Mr. Rogers,” a third commenter said. In response, someone else wrote, “I would never show my face in public again.”
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