{"id":280596,"date":"2026-09-06T16:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/280596\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T16:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:31:14","slug":"woke-rapper-macklemore-sparks-fury-over-anti-israel-rant-at-ed-sheerans-metlife-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/280596\/","title":{"rendered":"Woke rapper Macklemore sparks fury over anti-Israel rant at Ed Sheeran’s MetLife show"},"content":{"rendered":"

The lefty rapper Macklemore<\/a> has sparked fury after going on an anti-Israel rant while opening for Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium over the weekend.<\/p>\n

The Israeli-American Council started a petition on Sunday<\/a> calling for\u00a0Sheeran to drop the \u201cThrift Shop\u201d singer from the remainder of his tour, accusing the rapper of spreading antisemitic propaganda.<\/p>\n

Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, made calls to \u201cFree Palestine\u201d and accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza at the New Jersey Meadowlands show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to stand up here on stages across America and say two words that are near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine,\u201d the Grammy-winning rapper said as he wore a keffiyeh draped over his shoulders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Macklemore, seen performing last month, is under fire for spewing an anti-Israel rant when he opened for Ed Sheeran at New Jersey\u2019s MetLife Stadium this weekend. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Macklemore made calls to \u201cFree Palestine\u201d and accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza at the New Jersey Meadowlands show on Sept. 4.<\/p>\n

The rapper also performed his song, \u201cHindi\u2019s Hall,\u201d a reference to the pro-Palestine protests at the Columbia University campus<\/a> while images from Gaza were played on giant screens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an Ed Sheeran concert \u2013 not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event,\u201d said the IAC, which represents more than 15,000 Israeli-Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue is not whether Macklemore has the right to hold political views. The question is where to draw the line when an opening act uses a global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda,\u201d the group added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis becomes even more troubling when the message relies on selective imagery, biased messaging, and disputed claims presented to a massive audience as fact, without context or complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another image shown during Macklemore\u2019s opening set. <\/p>\n

Sheeran\u2019s management team did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

The concert was held on Sept. 4, with tickets ranging from $71 to $210 on Ticketmaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Josh Wein, a father of two, said he was excited to bring out his family to see the show until Macklemore came out to the stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he started chanting \u201cFree Palestine\u201d and pushing his clearly uneducated version of the Israel\/Gaza conflict, my daughters looked at me completely confused,\u201d he wrote on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had brought them to an Ed Sheeran concert, not to have an opening act lecture them about Middle East politics.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Grammy-winner wore a keffiyeh while opening for Sheeran. He\u2019s pictured above wearing the traditional scarf during a Dublin show in June. Redferns<\/p>\n

Wein said the entire experience left his family sour as they vowed to stop supporting Sheeran due to his association with Macklemore.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Macklemore has repeatedly slammed Israel for the casualties in Gaza while performing on stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Israeli-American Council started a petition urging Sheeran to drop Macklemore from the remainder of his tour, accusing the rapper of spreading antisemitic propaganda. Deadline via Getty Images<\/p>\n

He first called the war \u201ca genocide\u201d while speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally in Washington in 2023, and later chanted \u201cF\u2013k America\u201d during a similar rally in 2024 over then-President Joe Biden\u2019s support of Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Israel has been accused of committing genocide in Gaza, where the war has claimed more than 73,000 lives inside the Palestinian enclave, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health, which does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists. Israel said it only tagets terrorists and makes efforts to warn civilians to get out of the area before an attack.<\/p>\n

The IAC called for not only Macklemore to be removed from Sheeran\u2019s remaining tour dates, but for all venues to establish clear boundaries between entertainment and political performances.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJewish patrons should not be subjected to this propaganda,\u201d the StopAntisemitism group wrote on X in response to Friday\u2019s incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cFans deserve apologies and refunds. Unacceptable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lefty rapper Macklemore has sparked fury after going on an anti-Israel rant while opening for Ed Sheeran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[2492,76459,2254,37,5539,31215,2253,933],"class_list":["post-280596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-antisemitism","tag-ed-sheeran","tag-gaza-strip","tag-israel","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-macklemore","tag-palestinians","tag-us-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117225055156465845","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}