“Free Palestine”: Macklemore announces new tour after split with Ed Sheeran

Macklemore has announced he will travel outside the United States with several guest artists for a “Free Palestine Tour,” following his recent clash with Ed Sheeran. The “Thrift Shop” rapper announced on Instagram that the tour will open in Dublin on October 26, continue in Paris on October 29 and close in London on October 30. US concert dates, as well as the names of the artists joining the tour, will be announced soon.

“If these past few weeks have shown us anything, it’s that something has shifted over the last three years,” wrote Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, in the post’s caption. “There has been a collective awakening around the liberation of Palestine, the power of billionaires trying to censor this call, and what we expect from artists these days,” he added.

The 43-year-old rapper appeared to reference Ed Sheeran, who has tried to maintain a neutral stance on the war in Gaza. During his September 19 concert, Sheeran said the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel were “horrific” and that they “added centuries of pain for Jewish people.” He also said the actions of the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza were “catastrophic, unjustifiable and disproportionate.”

“People are asking artists to engage, to be informed and to be part of the community. To use the stage for something more than entertainment. To speak up when the call for a free Palestine is met with attempts to silence it,” he continued. Macklemore added that what has happened to him is “bigger than one artist or one stage.” “When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed to be heard on stage and which are too dangerous to be heard, everyone should pay attention,” the rapper wrote.

Macklemore said that after his “schedule freed up a bit,” he began reaching out to “artists who have engaged and used their stages to show solidarity with the Palestinian people, regardless of the consequences.” “Because of how quickly everything has come together, many of the conversations, schedules and details are still being finalized,” he explained. At the end of the post, Macklemore announced that all proceeds from the tour will be donated to organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement.

The tour comes just over a week after Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran’s “Loop Tour” following remarks he made from the stage about Palestine and the people of Gaza. Macklemore claimed that the “Perfect” singer, 35, had come under pressure from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft to drop the rapper from the tour over his political stance. According to reports, all the other artists set to open for Sheeran — including Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe and Beoga — pulled out of the “Loop Tour” in solidarity with Macklemore. Meanwhile, fans demanded refunds from Ticketmaster, and Sheeran has lost nearly 500,000 Instagram followers since the controversy began.