Jack Antonoff, the Grammy-winning producer and longtime Taylor Swift collaborator, has backed Macklemore amid the controversy over the rapper’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour after saying “Free Palestine” onstage. Antonoff’s intervention puts one of pop music’s most influential producers into a dispute that has raised broader questions about artists’ political speech and the power promoters and venue owners wield over major tours. His comments also renew pressure on Sheeran, whom Antonoff said should have canceled his tour rather than continue after Macklemore was dropped.
In an interview published Sunday by The Guardian, the Bleachers frontman, who is Jewish, said he had been saying “Free Palestine” during his own concerts and had become more determined to do so amid the controversy. Addressing Sheeran directly, Antonoff argued that the singer had “missed a massive, beautiful opportunity” to cancel his remaining concerts and instead perform for free outside the venues while raising money. Newsweek reached out to Ed Sheeran for comment.
I’ll play for free outside,” Antonoff told The Guardian. He concluded his criticism by saying: “The reason it’s not an anomaly or niche issue is because we all live in a world where billionaires are constantly telling us what to do. So stand the f**k up.” Antonoff’s involvement is notable because his career is deeply embedded in mainstream pop.
Beyond fronting Bleachers, he's become one of the industry’s most prominent producers, working with Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, St. Vincent, Kendrick Lamar, and Gracie Abrams. Antonoff told The Guardian that he had faced abuse on social media after saying “Free Palestine” at Bleachers concerts.
He framed the phrase as a humanitarian message rather than something inherently controversial and said the recent dispute had emboldened him to keep using it. His criticism targeted not only the decision affecting Macklemore but also what he sees as a larger imbalance between performers and the business interests controlling concert venues. Elsewhere in the same interview, Antonoff criticized Live Nation over ticket pricing, arguing that live music should not become an experience determined by who can afford the highest prices.
Antonoff is unusually prominent within that industry. He performs his own material with Bleachers while producing records for some of pop's biggest names. In the Guardian interview, he said he likes working on what he called “super high-stakes albums,” projects that draw enormous public attention and scrutiny.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
