Macklemore is turning the controversy over his removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour into a $1 million donation: The American rapper announced that he will donate all of his net earnings from his appearances on Sheeran’s U.S. tour to organizations supporting Palestinians and providing humanitarian aid in Gaza.
In a statement posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Macklemore wrote: “With everything that has happened over the last 48 hours, I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation, and still fighting for their freedom.
“I will be donating the entire $1 million of my net earnings from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people.”
In the same statement, he also issued a challenge to Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, who was involved in the affair that led to Macklemore’s removal from the tour.
“I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation,” Macklemore wrote, adding that “whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting.”
“That is what this has always been about. Not me. Not a tour. Not the headlines or the controversy. It is about Palestinians right to freedom, dignity, and safety in their own homeland,” Macklemore continued.
“I want to center the parents carrying their children into hospitals without the basic resources to treat them, and the physicians, paramedics, journalists and aid workers who keep going back in. I want to center the organizers and activists who have paid real costs for standing with Palestine. Their risk is of a far different order than mine.”
The controversy began earlier this month, when Macklemore performed as an opening act at Sheeran’s shows at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. During the performances, he spoke in support of Palestinians and at one point called out “Free Palestine.” Pressure subsequently mounted to remove him from the remainder of the tour.
Ed Sheeran
(Photo: WPA Pool, gettyimages)
Sheeran said this week that the decision to remove Macklemore was not his but was made by the tour’s promoters. According to Sheeran, venues scheduled to host later shows said they would cancel the concerts if Macklemore continued as an opening act. Sheeran added that he tried to reach a compromise with the venues and organizers, but the final decision was theirs.
Kraft, for his part, defended his decision not to allow Macklemore to perform at Gillette Stadium. He cited what he described as the rapper’s “history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery,” which he said had been offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.
Robert Kraft
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Meanwhile, the Macklemore controversy has also prompted Sheeran’s other opening acts to withdraw from the rest of the tour. Finneas, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe, along with the band Beoga, announced that they would no longer perform on the tour.