Mehdi Hasan calls Macklemore’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour ‘insane’
Journalist and commentator writing on his personal X account
“This is insane. The so-called land of the free.”
The full case
Macklemore’s “Free Palestine” speech and removal from Ed Sheeran’s U.S. tour
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Hasan’s original post reacts to reporting that Macklemore was removed from scheduled Ed Sheeran tour dates after his pro-Palestinian speech. It criticizes the reported decision as inconsistent with the United States’ stated commitment to free expression; it does not independently establish the venues’ motives.
Before the quotation
Hasan was reacting to a report that Macklemore had been removed from scheduled Ed Sheeran tour dates after his ‘Free Palestine’ stage speech.
After the quotation
His post criticizes the reported removal as a free-expression consequence.
How this statement is classified
The post expressly criticizes the reported removal. It does not independently assess the merits of Macklemore’s speech or dispute a hate-speech characterization.
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- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Macklemore
More from this case
Read the full case“Glad to see Macklemore off Ed Sheeran’s tour. For years, Macklemore has pushed antisemitic tropes and demonized Israel and Israelis. Now he certainly has the 1A right to speak out and express his views, but demonizing Jews and Israelis shouldn’t be rewarded.”Read statement
“The moral narcissism of this guy. People don’t generally pay to go to concerts (certainly not Ed Sheeran ones) to get lectured by a dropkick about geopolitics, and objecting to that doesn’t make them bad people. It’s like giving a speech about cancer at someone’s wedding and then saying well cancer is more important than your feelings and so it’s my right and duty to give a speech about cancer and if you complain about it you obviously don’t care about cancer. There are layers of logical fallacy here. As I’ve noted before, sufferers of Israel derangement syndrome think that everybody else should be as deranged as they are, and that those who are not are morally inferior.”Read statement
“This will backfire spectacularly on Kraft et al (and proponents of the current Israeli government around war in Gaza). Most of us were unaware of Macklemore’s on-stage advocacy. Now, in the aftermath of this move by Sheeran (direct result of Kraft’s ultimatum), Macklemore is going to get an insane amount of positive earned media.”Read statement