Macklemore announces Free Palestine tour

( NewsNation ) — Rapper Macklemore announced Thursday that he will hold a Free Palestine tour.

“What happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage,” he wrote on social platform X . “When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention.”

“So, we’re going on tour,” the rapper, born Benjamin Haggerty, continued. “All proceeds will benefit organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement.”

Earlier this month, Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour after making pro-Palestine statements at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The move led some groups to speak out against the musician, calling for his removal from the tour. Among those who called for his removal was the owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, Robert Kraft.

“Free Palestine, I said free Palestine,” he said at the opening of his song “Hind’s Hall.”

“I want those words to be loud and clear so that the people in Gaza all the way to the occupied West Bank, know that we have not forgotten them,” the “Thrift Shop” singer added.

He later posted a video of the remarks on online , writing, “Wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial.”

In the days following his removal from the tour, all of Sheeran’s supporting acts withdrew from the tour. Sheeran issued a statement on Instagram where he explained that multiple venues threatened to pull out of the tour if Macklemore was not removed .

“Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision; it was not mine,” Sheeran wrote in a lengthy post, detailing how he tried to mend the situation without Macklemore’s removal. “Macklemore’s contract with the tour was with the promoter, not with me.”

In the post, Sheeran expressed a desire to not use his public platform to promote political purposes , saying his audience includes young people who do not come to the shows expecting a political forum.

The “Photograph” and “Shape of You” singer later addressed fans at a concert in Philadelphia on Saturday, apologizing for mistakes and breaking his silence on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“What happened in Israel at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain,” Sheeran said. “What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate; my heart has been broken by the scale of the devastation and loss of civilian life and children’s lives.”

“The systematic injustice we see unfolding in the West Bank cannot be overlooked,” he continued. “I am already speaking with people across the spectrum to work out how to make a contribution that helps victims of these terrible times and listening and learning because I do not know enough.”

The Macklemore and Friends Free Palestine Tour will begin in Dublin on Oct. 26 before performing in Paris on Oct. 29 and London on Oct. 30. No other tour dates or locations have been listed at this time.