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21·12 days ago
Full Statement:
"I’m going to speak from the heart and share the truth. Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour. But before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.
The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don’t lose sight of that.
Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him. We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.
Ed was in a fucked up position. He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before. He told me that the words “Free Palestine” and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood. But he couldn’t get past his public facing, “I don’t take sides.
And I get why people don’t. Taking a side can cost you. Money, brand deals, sponsorships, festivals, private shows, relationships and access. I’ve lost all of those things. 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.
What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years. So why is it an issue now? Because now I’m sharing a stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stadiums in America. At a certain level of exposure, “Free Palestine” becomes too much of a risk. If I kept doing the shows, saying Free Palestine, with Ed implicitly supporting it, the crowd getting loud and showing undeniable support for Palestinian liberation, what artist might speak out next? The stage becomes resistance. Maybe that’s why this time it became so important to silence me.
And one of the most effective ways to enforce that silence has been to weaponize the accusation of antisemitism. Antisemitism is real. And that is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state. When criticizing Israel, opposing Zionism or saying “Free Palestine” gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn’t protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.
Who is winning the internet, who is getting canceled, who gets to play the stadium and who doesn’t, all of it becomes so small when held against what we are actually witnessing in Gaza and the West Bank. An entire people being displaced, starved and killed while the world debates which words we are allowed to use to describe it, how those words make us feel, and whether our discomfort matters more than the people living through a genocide.
I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say. Free Palestine. But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on."
Follow on:
In a statement shared on Instagram, Macklemore claimed that Kraft called Sheeran ahead of Sheeran’s upcoming show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is owned by the Kraft Group. “Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium,” Macklemore wrote. “Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”
Such a pathetic Trumper Tantrum.
The Grim Reaper is on a tear in killing my childhood extra hard this week.
This is what you get for electing a weakling with bone spurs.
Let me show you my original Nintendo game & watch young one…
https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-farms-recall-map-salmonella-symptoms-jalapeno-peppers-026-8
A range of salsa and guacamoles, as well as chopped jalapeños, burritos, and a roast beef sandwich, were recalled from:
- Hannaford
- Kroger
- Target
- Trader Joe’s
- Walmart
- Whole Foods
- Stop and Shop (It said in a statement Monday that two products were affected: the Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Wrap and Fresh Pico de Gallo Salsa. They have both been removed from sale. Customers should discard these products, and can contact Stop and Shop of a full refund.)
Every local station will be conservative owned bullshit.
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I mean it’s the Trump Administration’s FDA full of his sycophants so I would unfortunately have to guess that it’s as legitimate as any other claim this administration has made.
Yeah, that’s just how the world works unfortunately. The good die young while evil lives.
They arrested this guy in LA when the plane landed and once again FUCK ICE.
Such courage and leadership from our shitty Democrats.
One wonders what Republicans in Congress—let alone the international community—will think of Trump’s latest concession. If a final peace deal between Iran and the U.S. doesn’t have any restrictions on the country’s nuclear program, it will be effectively worse than the 2015 JCPOA agreement with Iran.
Everything Obama or Biden did, he just has to do it worse.
Yeah, dumbasses, what did you think was going to happen when you vote for a theocracy where your version of the religion isn’t the main one that the fascists in power worship?
First they came for others but now you’re next and honestly I don’t care if they come for you guys because overall your religion has been dog shit awful and your awfulness spread to the rest of us sane Americans who don’t worship a the alter of the golden obese cow.
And this moron was just bragging about how they reached an agreement with Iran to dispose of their uranium in the deal and this master negotiator just literally blew it up.
Moron and the morons that voted for the moron…
This is the court that cited a 17th century bullshit about quickening like they were sucking Medieval Highlander dick for justification on Dobbs, and then in the same breath refused to also acknowledge that terminating pregnancy before Highlander There Can Be Only One, was common and accepted practice.
These Conservative political activist judges don’t care about being consistent or data while they’re passing their conservative agenda from the bench.
What an absolute ghoul.