The popular rapper Macklemore, banned from performing in U.S. stadiums by pro-Zionist National Football League billionaire owners due to his outspoken solidarity with the Palestinian people facing genocide in Gaza, announced on Sept. 24 an upcoming “Free Palestine”
Page D2From§Eachthe wee small hours edition — 3 October 2026
Banned from NFL stadiums over Gaza, Macklemore sells out Paris, London and Dublin instead
As it ran on the front
Died, in the time between two words spoken into a live mic at MetLife Stadium and a box office selling out in three European capitals: the National Football League owners' claim that their stadiums have no room for a man who says "free Palestine."
Born in the owners' box, where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Common Dreams reported, rallied fellow NFL venue holders after Macklemore's remark onstage. The symptom arrived fast — he was pulled from the remaining U.S. dates of Ed Sheeran's Loop tour, a show he neither owned nor promoted. By Sept. 15, the Washington Examiner was already reporting him gone from the bill.…
…(cont) What followed was not the owners' plan. Several of Sheeran's own opening acts quit the tour that week in solidarity, the Examiner and Common Dreams both on record, one outlet calling it a possible "turning point" for how pop music handles Israel and Palestine. Sheeran, who said the removal was not his call, told Instagram followers that Tuesday he was "not complicit," that the decision belonged to the promoter, that Macklemore's contract ran through someone else entirely. It read like standard corporate bunk — a statement built to mean nothing while sounding like it means something.
Macklemore did not wait on an American stage to open back up. On Sept. 24 he announced a "Free Palestine" tour of his own — Paris, London, Dublin, opening Oct. 26, proceeds to organizations aiding Palestinian civilians under Israeli occupation. On Oct. 3, Workers World reported the dates sold out.
The ban held exactly where the owners could enforce it: on their own turf. It did not touch the demand for the show. It only moved the zip code.
Born in the owners' box. Survived by sold-out arenas three capitals away.
In lieu of flowers, buy the ticket in whichever city still sells one.
“An NFL owner can keep a guy off his own stage, but he can't keep people from buying a ticket somewhere else. Kraft didn't kill the tour, he just shipped the box office to Paris, London and Dublin. That's the whole racket — they get to look tough on Gaza at home, and we get to watch the money land in somebody else's country.”
“Nobody banned anybody — the promoter made an independent business call, and Ed Sheeran said himself he wasn't complicit. Wait, why would you say "not complicit" about a decision you had nothing to do with? Look, this was never about the message, it was about scheduling. Definitely scheduling.”
The receipts
· Macklemore Announces 'Free Palestine Tour' With Dates in Paris, London, and Dublin from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
· Several opening acts pull from Ed Sheeran’s tour after Macklemore dropped from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Ed Sheeran responds to backlash over Macklemore removal: ‘I am not complicit’ from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Ed Sheeran Openers Quit Tour as Boycott Begins Over 'Silencing' of Macklemore's Palestine Speech from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.