Rapper Macklemore has claimed he has been removed from his tour with Ed Sheeran after saying “Free Palestine” during a gig supporting the singer-songwriter.

The 43-year-old, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, said during a concert at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey that he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten, and said in a post on Instagram that he hoped it was not the end of his friendship with Sheeran.

Following the comments, a petition was launched demanding he be removed from the remaining dates of the tour, and the singer Pink reposted a message criticising his comments to her Instagram page.

In a post on Monday, Macklemore said: “I’m going to speak from the heart and share the truth. Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour.

“But before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world.

“Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.

“The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence.

“More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don’t lose sight of that.”

Macklemore went on to claim that Robert Kraft, whose Kraft Group owns the Gillette Stadium that they were due to play in, had contacted Sheeran and told him they would not be able to play unless he was removed from the tour.

He said: “Ed was in a f*****-up position. He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before.

“He told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with.

“I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood.

“But he couldn’t get past his public facing, ‘I don’t take sides’.”

A statement from Kraft described Macklemore’s comments as “hate speech” and accused Macklemore of “a broader history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community”.

He said that it meant the rap singer’s participation in gigs at the stadium on September 25th and 26th would cross a line.

Kraft said: “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, a United States and globally designated terrorist organisation whose horrific actions have caused immeasurable suffering for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

“I agree with Macklemore, too many lives have been lost and there has been too much suffering, but only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only advances more divisiveness and hate.

“Over many decades, I have directed resources to Palestine and created athletic and entrepreneurial opportunities for Palestinians who I admire and respect. Standing with the Palestinian people and standing against Hamas, anti-Semitism and hate should not be mutually exclusive.”

Macklemore was supported by Irish rap trio Kneecap and singer Paloma Faith on Instagram.

Faith said: “You are a rare and important voice, thank you for existing. This is so articulate and so powerful. You are a hero.”

In a post on Friday clarifying her repost of the petition, Pink said “Palestinians deserve a future that honours their humanity and their aspirations”.

She said: “Last weekend he stood in front of a stadium full of music-loving families, with violent images from a war on the screens, dedicated a song to the movement of his choice, and then took the mic to tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them.

“You don’t get to decide that for us. That’s what prompted my repost.”

Pink went on to say she does not speak for Israel or for any government.

Macklemore was among more than 1,100 artists, musicians and cultural workers who called for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest this year over the inclusion of Israel.

The letter, co-ordinated by campaign group No Music For Genocide, was also signed by artists including Faith, Massive Attack, Paul Weller and Kneecap.

Sheeran and Macklemore have been contacted for comment. – Press Association