Earlier this month, Macklemore opened two shows for Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium. He wore a keffiyeh. He said “Free Palestine.” He performed “Hind’s Hall” while footage from Gaza played on the screens behind him. He looked into a crowd of 80,000 people and told the Jewish fans among them that criticizing Israel’s government was no attack on them.
Nine days later, he was gone.
On Monday, Rolling Stone reported that Sheeran’s promoter, Messina Touring Group, had pulled Macklemore from the remaining U.S. dates. The promoter’s explanation: the venues would not allow a show with Macklemore on the lineup, and keeping him meant canceling the tour.
Macklemore filled in the rest. In his statement, he said Ed told him that Patriots owner Robert Kraft rallied other stadium owners and delivered an ultimatum: drop Macklemore or lose the venues. Kraft confirmed he personally barred Macklemore from Gillette Stadium, calling his rhetoric antisemitic.
Antisemitic.
James Stadium in Tampa is on the list of venues that objected to Macklemore. In June, that stadium hosted Kanye West. Twice. This is a man who sold a swastika t-shirt through a Super Bowl ad. A man who released a song called “Heil Hitler.” And no, the title is not ironic. The track ends with a sample of Hitler delivering his 1935 Krupp Factory speech, asking the crowd to stand up for him as he stood up for them. Ye posted the quote on his own account, approvingly. The American Jewish Committee called the song “blatant antisemitism.”
AT&T Stadium in Arlington is also on the list. Kanye is scheduled to perform there this November. The date is on the calendar right now.
So an artist who praised Hitler clears the antisemitism bar. An artist who criticized a government committing genocide does not. That is the finding of the UN’s Commission of Inquiry, of Amnesty International, and of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, whose voting members declared last year that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition. Macklemore stood on a stage and agreed.
Let me be clear about what I believe. Artists should have wide freedom to create, and art has always been political. Woody Guthrie wrote “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his guitar. Marvin Gaye asked what was going on. Political speech is a feature of art, one as old as art itself.
I also understand that speech at private venues carries consequences. A stadium can decline a performer. Businesses make those calls every day.
But confusing anti-Zionism with antisemitism to justify the call is a cop-out. Anti-Zionism opposes a political project and criticizes a state. Antisemitism is hatred of Jewish people. More than 400 scholars of antisemitism, the Holocaust, and Jewish history signed the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, making that exact distinction, and stating plainly that criticism of Israel is not inherently antisemitic. The people who own these stadiums understand the difference. Their own booking calendars prove it. If antisemitism were the standard, Kanye West would not have a microphone in Tampa or Arlington.
Some will point out that Ye apologized last November. Fine. Then the standard these venues enforce is this: Nazi glorification, followed by an apology, gets you two stadium nights and a fall booking. Anti-genocide speech, with nothing to apologize for, gets you an ultimatum. Grace extended in exactly one direction.
Which brings us to what this decision actually was. Business. Macklemore is the opener. Openers are replaceable, and replaceable people are cheap to sacrifice. If Macklemore carried Ed Sheeran’s ticket sales, this boycott evaporates overnight. Nobody hands an ultimatum to the name on the marquee. These owners stand on principle only when principle costs them nothing.
As for Ed Sheeran and his team, they might think they landed on the anti-antisemitism team.
But they never made the A team; they just made the A team laugh.
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Thank you for being the voice of reason and logic on a subject that is so derisive! As a Jew I get called out for not supporting Israel. My comment is I support the people just not their government (nor the terrorist organization that governs the Palestinians), just like I don't support the government here right now. What I am against is genocide, no matter who is doing it. It isn't a zero sum game ... you can support the Israeli people *and* support the Palestinian people.
Thank you for sharing this distinction. In our Interfaith group one of the convert members of a local congregation does not know the difference and was very vocal about their opinion. I now have the language to have a polite refute the next time they get vocal.