After being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour, American rapper Macklemore announced Thursday that he will launch a “Free Palestine” tour, with all proceeds going to organizations that support Palestinians.
“So, as you all know, my schedule opened up a little bit,” Macklemore said in announcing the tour.
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Macklemore was kicked off Ed Sheeran's tour for calling to 'Free Palestine', now he's got his own tour
(Photo: Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Macklemore is scheduled to perform in Dublin on October 26, Paris on October 29 and London on October 30. He said he will be joined by “friends” whose identities will be announced later.
“If the last few weeks have shown us anything, it’s that things have changed over the past three years,” Macklemore wrote in the announcement. “There is a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, around the power of billionaires trying to censor those calls and around what we expect from artists now.”
He added: “What happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage. When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to be heard, everyone should be paying attention.”
Macklemore said that immediately after being dropped from the tour, he reached out to artists who support Palestinians and might want to join him.
“Because all of this came together so quickly, a lot of the conversations, scheduling and details are still being worked out,” he said. “But this is a moment of momentum, and there is work to do.”
In early September, Macklemore, known for hits including “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us,” appeared as an opening act for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he made pro-Palestinian remarks and at one point called for a “Free Palestine.” Pressure then grew to remove him from the rest of the tour.
Macklemore has said Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, personally called Sheeran and told him Macklemore would not be allowed to perform at the stadium.
Kraft defended the decision to bar Macklemore from appearing there, citing what he described as “a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery” that he said had hurt and caused pain to the Jewish community.
Sheeran said the decision to remove Macklemore was not his, but that of promoters. He said venues scheduled to host future shows had threatened to cancel them if Macklemore remained on the bill.
Ed Sheeran said he would not be drawn into a public debate over the war in Gaza
(Photo: Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Sheeran also said he would not be drawn into a public debate over the war in Gaza.
The controversy continued, and the other opening acts — Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe and the band Beoga — withdrew from the tour. Protesters also gathered last week outside Sheeran’s first concert without Macklemore.
“I’ve had to make hard decisions, and I make mistakes. I am so, so sorry. I do not want to let the fans down,” he said.
He also clarified his position on the conflict, referring in part to the massacre at the Nova music festival.
“What happened in Israel and at the music festival on October 7 was horrific, and amplified centuries of Jewish pain,” Sheeran said. “What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic, unjustified and disproportionate.”
Amid the fallout, Macklemore announced last week that he would donate all of his earnings from Sheeran’s tour, about $1 million, to six organizations that assist Palestinians.
He also called on Kraft to match the donation.
It remains unclear whether Kraft has done so, but in a statement he said he and Sheeran plan to “work together to build bridges.”