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\n\tDropkick Murphys<\/a>\u2018 frontman Ken Casey<\/a> has spoken up about Macklemore<\/a> being forced off<\/a> Ed Sheeran<\/a>\u2019s Loop Tour after the rapper made onstage comments in support of Palestinians and criticized Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.<\/p>\n \n\tIn an interview with Boston Public Radio, Casey said, \u201cI know that, as a musician for 30 years, anytime we\u2019ve gone on tour we\u2019ve selected the bands that have opened for us \u2014 that\u2019s brotherhood, sisterhood, that\u2019s family. You live or die with the people you bring on the road. They\u2019re your people.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHe added: \u201cAnd the fact that Ed Sheeran took the knee, no matter what the cause is, and not stood with his fellow tour partner, just doesn\u2019t, you know, sit right with me. And that\u2019s not how Dropkick Murphys would operate.\u201d Casey comments garnered applause during the taping.<\/p>\n \n\tCasey said that the promoter is not the entity that should dictate what happens at a show. \u201cThe promoter is not what the people come to see.\u201d He gave an example: during the band\u2019s Rocklahoma Festival in Oklahoma. \u201cWe said what we have to say onstage every night, and \u00a0probably about 50 percent of the audience walked away.\u201d The band is outspoken about the Trump administration. (Sheeran said\u00a0the decision to remove Macklemore was not his<\/a>, but that of the promoter Messina Touring Group, combined with pressure from venues as orchestrated by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.)<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnd I was told immediately afterwards that angered the owner of the site, and I\u2019m sure we won\u2019t get invited back,\u201d Casey continued.<\/p>\n