‘Ongoing headache’: KIRO hosts breaks down why Macklemore’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour is far from over

Seattle rapper Macklemore has been dropped from the remainder of Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour after declaring “Free Palestine” on stage at MetLife Stadium, with venue owners threatening to pull shows if he stayed on the bill.

Jake Skorheim and fill-in co-host Greg Tomlin discussed the fallout on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, with Jake calling it a massive headache for Sheeran’s team and Greg calling Macklemore’s use of the word “genocide” ignorant and dishonest.

Macklemore used his opening set at MetLife on Sept. 4 to tell the crowd: “One of the reasons why I wanted to come on this tour was because I wanted to stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine.”

Jake said Macklemore’s removal was driven by venue owners, not Sheeran.

“Ed Sheeran seems like a nice enough fella. He goes out there; I think he’s very talented. He plays his guitar very quickly. I like Ed Sheeran,” Jake said. “His audience — he’s got a lot of great songs — they want to hear his great songs. How many of them are sitting in the audience going like, ‘Oh man, can we just get through the opening act? Can we please get to Ed Sheeran?'”

He said the controversy is a sideshow for Sheeran’s camp.

“For Macklemore, this is a big punctuation on the end of his summer tour. For Ed Sheeran’s people, it’s kind of like, ‘all right, let’s get back to the show,'” Jake said. “This must just be a massive headache for them.”

“And it’s probably going to be an ongoing headache,” Greg added. “The fact that now he’s off the tour, he’s going to get flak for that, too.”

“Is Ed Sheeran the one who kicked him off? No. It’s only because the venue stepped up and said, ‘Hey,'” Jake responded.

“No, but Jake, Ed Sheeran didn’t stand up for him against the big bad venue owners, and he just wants to make money,” Greg said.

Greg calls the ‘genocide’ label ignorant and dishonest

Macklemore also called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a “terrorist organization” and described what’s happening in Gaza as genocide, something Greg focused on.

“That’s where he passes into the realm of being a moron and an ignoramus,” Greg said. “And I don’t use those words lightly. I try to reserve them for special circumstances, and I find this is one of them.”

He cited Bill Maher’s recent commentary on “Real Time” and argued the war, however devastating, does not meet the definition.

“The Israelis gave Gaza to the Palestinians around the year 2005. At the time, there were about 1.1 million Palestinians who lived in Gaza. Over the next 20 years, that exploded to about 2.3 million Palestinians,” Greg said. “Quite a genocide there over the past 20 years, where the population doubled.

“Has it been a tragedy? Has it been awful? Yeah, war is terrible. War is awful,” Greg added. “But Hamas started it. Israel’s going to finish it because this is an existential crisis for them, and it in no way meets the definition of a genocide. Those are just ignorant, stupid people throwing around that term having no idea what the definition actually is, or acting in bad faith, which I think Macklemore is maybe doing both.”

Robert Kraft releases statement, Jake questions whether Macklemore will respond

Jake read the statement from Robert Kraft, the Patriots owner who also owns Gillette Stadium and was the first venue owner to act.

“Gillette Stadium has a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests, and ensuring that events held at our venue do not provide a platform for hate speech,” Jake read. “Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determine that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line.”

Jake noted how Kraft referenced Macklemore’s past, including a 2014 incident in which the rapper performed in Seattle wearing a fake hooked nose, wig, and beard that critics called a Jewish caricature. Macklemore apologized at the time and said the costume was not intentional.

“He was an adult at the time. There’s not even a teenager who would see that outfit and think that it’s a good idea that I get on stage in this thing. It was ridiculous,” Jake said.

Jake continued reading Kraft’s statement: “This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf. Their pain and loss are real, but that advocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure the responsibility of Hamas.”

In closing, Kraft said he would “welcome an opportunity to sit down with Macklemore and discuss the facts, because ultimately our goal is the same: peace for all people, an end to suffering, and an end to all hate.”

“Do you think Macklemore is going to sit down with Robert Kraft?” Jake asked.

“Probably not anytime soon,” Greg said. “He’s probably eating up all the publicity from this.”

“Maybe they’ll do a rap album together or something, I don’t know,” Jake responded.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3