Macklemore performing Hind’s Hall, Screen capture from video posted to YouTube.

If the goal was to silence rapper Macklemore by preventing him from touring with singer Ed Sheeran, it clearly backfired.

Macklemore delivered a monologue in support of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and performed his pro-Palestinian protest song “Hind’s Hall” during a Sept. 4, 2026, concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where he was an opening act for Sheeran.

Ten days later, Macklemore was dropped from the tour after Robert Kraft, owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium – a future stop on Sheeran’s “Loop” tour – thought the 43-year-old rapper had crossed a line.

In a Sept. 14 Instagram post, Macklemore detailed how Kraft had pressured Sheeran to drop Macklemore from the tour and had convinced other stadium owners to prevent him from performing at their venues.

Yet the ensuing media coverage sent the rapper’s profile soaring. There was little to no interest in Macklemore’s Sept. 4 speech the day after he delivered it, yet searches for that speech shot up. His Instagram follower count ballooned by over 1.6 million in the days after he was dropped. Streams of his songs skyrocketed. In an act of solidarity, all of Sheeran’s other opening acts withdrew from the tour, and at least one radio network pulled Sheeran’s music from its rotation.

This pattern has a name:........

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