A national organization that advocates for free speech is warning that the push to remove Macklemore from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour could violate the First Amendment.
Macklemore said Monday that he was removed from the tour after Patriots owner Robert Kraft organized other stadium owners and the group collectively told Sheeran he would not be allowed to play at their venues if Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, remained on the bill.
In a lengthy statement released in response, Kraft did not dispute Macklemore’s account, but argued that pro-Palestinian comments Macklemore made at a concert in New Jersey — as well as imagery from Israel’s war in Gaza that was reportedly displayed behind him as he performed the pro-Palestinian anthem “Hind’s Hall” — constitute hate speech.
In an interview with GBH News, Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, said that while the First Amendment only applies to government censorship, two of the stadiums where Macklemore had been scheduled to perform with Sheeran — Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa — are publicly owned and operated.
“They’re government entities, so that means they have to comply with the First Amendment, which means they can’t cancel a performance just because they disagree with the artist’s views or because some members of the public are offended by those views,” Terr said.
However, Terr noted, it’s possible that Lucas Oil Stadium and Raymond James Stadium were not involved in delivering the ultimatum involving Macklemore’s removal. If they weren’t, he said, there would be no First Amendment violation.
The entities that own and operate Lucas Oil Stadium and Raymond James Stadium did not respond to requests for comment from GBH News Wednesday.
Other stadiums slated to host the Loop Tour are publicly owned but privately leased and operated, including Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
In those cases, Terr said, it would be less problematic if the private entities that run the stadiums played a role in removing Macklemore from the tour’s bill.
“That’s a more complicated situation, because it could be the case that the private entities are leasing that space in order to make their own autonomous decisions about what shows they want to host or what events they want to host in that space,” Terr said. “And they can potentially make those decisions independently without them being attributed to the government, even though the government owns the space, so in that case it wouldn’t be a First Amendment issue.
”It may depend on things like the terms of the contract and the level of actual government involvement in the scheduling of any events,“ Terr added.
Kraft is known as a staunch supporter of Israel and a prolific donor to entities that foster Jewish life and combat antisemitism. In the statement he released this week, he also seemed to allude to Macklemore wearing a costume widely regarded as antisemitic at a performance in 2014, an incident for which the rapper has apologized.
At the recent performance in New Jersey, Macklemore twice called for a free Palestine, and then seemed to preemptively defend that call and the song ”Hind’s Hall“ from potential charges of antisemitism.
”To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you,“ Macklemore said. ”My message is for peace. Love. For all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect and equality.”
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the war in Gaza has killed nearly 75,000 people since it began in October 2023. Earlier this year, Israel estimated that 70,000 Palestinians had been killed in the conflict. A United Nations independent commission, Amnesty International, and other groups, including some Jewish organizations, have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, a charge Israel rejects.
The war was launched after Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people.
Since Macklemore announced he’d been dropped from the tour, several other acts have announced that they are quitting the tour in a show of solidarity, including Aaron Rowe, Finneas, Lukas Graham and Beoga, Sheeran’s house band.
There is, Terr said, another free-speech issue raised by Macklemore’s forced exit from the Loop Tour: the unilateral removal of artists for espousing certain points of view, which he calls a dangerous habit to develop.
“There is a bit of a risk of opening a Pandora’s box here, where any artist who expresses a controversial political view finds it difficult to get on stage,” Terr said. “Today it’s Macklemore expressing pro-Palestinian views. But, you know, it wasn’t long ago that the rapper Matisyahu had shows canceled for making comments that angered pro-Palestinian activists.
”Tomorrow, maybe it’s an artist who supports President Trump, or a rapper whose lyrics criticize the police, or a comedian who expresses controversial views on some political issue,“ Terr added. ”And that just can ultimately be very corrosive to artistic expression and the willingness of artists to honestly speak their minds.“
