Macklemore to Donate $1M Tour Pay After Sheeran Tour Removal
Macklemore says he will donate the full $1 million in net earnings he made as an opening act on Ed Sheeran's Loop tour to six groups supporting Palestinian people and Gaza relief. He was paid $1 million for the role, according to reporting published 16 September by The Guardian. He has since been dropped from the tour after backlash to his onstage support for Palestine.
The sequence started on 4 September at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. During his set, Macklemore voiced support for a "free Palestine." The Israeli American Council then petitioned for his removal from the Loop tour.
Sheeran said Robert Kraft and several other venue owners told him the tour could not play in their stadiums if Macklemore stayed as opener. Kraft refused to let Macklemore play at Gillette Stadium outside Boston. Sheeran said the decision to drop Macklemore from the U.S. tour was made by organisers, not by him, according to Reuters.
Macklemore then challenged Kraft to match his $1 million donation to Palestinian causes. The pledge covers the full net amount he earned on the tour. Net earnings means pay left after tour costs and fees. The recipients have been described only as six organizations supporting Palestinian people and Gaza relief.
The removal has widened. Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Boega and Lukas Graham withdrew as opening acts for the rest of the Loop tour in solidarity with Macklemore. That leaves Sheeran without his listed support lineup for the remaining U.S. dates.
The broader context here is structural, not personal. A national stadium tour is a negotiation among artists, promoters who plan the shows, and venue operators who control the buildings. It works a bit like booking a chain of rented halls. If the landlords say no, the show has no room. When several owners act together, the headliner must choose between keeping the opener and keeping the venues.
Looking at what this means for touring politics, two tools are in play. The first is financial redirection. A performance fee becomes a donation, and that donation becomes a public challenge to a venue owner. The second is collective withdrawal. One opener can be replaced. Four leaving together creates bigger staffing and publicity problems.
In my view, three questions deserve attention. Pledged gifts of net earnings depend on accounting the public cannot check. Venue rules set mid-tour raise questions about contracts between promoters, headliners and stadiums. And coordinated exits will test how much power support acts hold when they act together rather than alone.
