On Monday (September 14), it was revealed that Macklemore was being removed from the remaining dates on Ed Sheeran's "The Loop" tour across North America. This came after he made comments in support of Palestine amid the ongoing conflict with Israel.
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The fallout has been marvelous to watch unfold. After Macklemore's announcement, a bevy of Sheeran's opening acts voluntarily removed themselves from the tour. In support of Macklemore's stance.
Ocasio-Cortez Rips Robert Kraft Amid Macklemore Drama
However, there were others who also stood with Macklemore. TMZ caught up with United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to chat with he about the fiasco. Ocasio-Cortez ripped New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
"When you see what Robert Kraft did to line up all of the stadiums to censor speech in that one specific way. It's become clear that this is not just about one music artist or two music artists," she said. "This is about how just a handful of stadium owners and the elite can prevent an entire massive issue. It could be speaking out about AI; it could be speaking out about any issue. You can now just get a handful of stadium owners to ensure that an entire person's career can be jeopardized. If they speak out about any issue."
Kraft made a pact with several other NFL owners to essentially ban Macklemore from performing at their stadiums. Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged the role that Sheeran played as an enabler. But ultimately she believes it is Kraft who should receive the brunt of the backlash.
"I have a huge amount of empathy for the situation because I think people want the focus here to be about Ed Sheeran — and he, of course, plays a role — but they're not putting the focus on Robert Kraft and the actual people who are kind of twisting things here," Ocasio-Cortez added. "Everyone has responsibility in the situation; everyone plays a role. But we need to be very clear about how dangerous a precedent this is."
