{"id":814941,"date":"2026-10-27T00:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T00:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814941\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T00:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T00:52:09","slug":"macklemore-kicks-off-first-free-palestine-show-with-call-for-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814941\/","title":{"rendered":"Macklemore Kicks Off First ‘Free Palestine’ Show With Call for Unity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMacklemore dedicated his \u201cFree Palestine\u201d tour date<\/a> to \u201clove and liberation\u201d as he kicked off the three-show trek in Dublin, Ireland, just over a month after he was dropped as an opener for Ed Sheeran<\/a> following a political speech on stage.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter bringing out Hozier and Kneecap as surprise guests, Macklemore<\/a> took a moment to share what the evening meant to him in the wake of the controversy. \u201cSix weeks ago, it was two words. Two words is all that it took. Two words that are rooted in love and liberation,\u201d he said. \u201cNot against anybody, not divisive. Not a call for hatred. But a call to recognize our shared humanity. Free Palestine. I said free Palestine! The same thing that I want for all of us, freedom, dignity, the right to exist without fear. Being able to raise our children in the homes that we grew up in, not having to prove our humanity to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd yet,\u201d he continued, \u201cthose words, those two words, right, those two words are so threatening to some people. They would rather silence those two words than confront what they actually mean. Because freedom that requires another person\u2019s oppression is not freedom at all. I said freedom that requires another person\u2019s oppression is not freedom at all. And while the world debates those words, we see the videos, we see the footage, we see parents pulling their children out of the rubble. Families erased. Devastation beyond our imagination. And somehow, those words have become more controversial than the suffering that made them necessary. That\u2019s why we are here tonight. That is why we are here, because throughout history, music has given people a place to resist, to come together as a collective, to share our grief, to share our stories, to move from the heart, to mobilize people with the frequency of love. The heartbeat in our drum that makes us feel alive, that makes us feel connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Dublin concert is the first of a three-show stint that will see the \u201cThrift Shop\u201d rapper also perform in Paris and London alongside special guests, with all proceeds going to charities supporting Palestine. Macklemore also donated his $1 million salary<\/a> from Sheeran\u2019s tour to the cause.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Sept. 14, Macklemore was dropped<\/a> from the remainder of Sheeran\u2019s U.S. \u201cLoop\u201d tour after he said \u201cfree Palestine\u201d on stage and gave political speeches over two concerts at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4 and 5. \u201cA big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: \u2018Free Palestine.\u2019 I said, \u2018Free Palestine!\u2019\u201d Macklemore said at the Sept. 4 show. \u201cI want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe speech went viral, sparking backlash from pop star Pink<\/a> and a petition from the Israeli American Council calling for Macklemore to be removed from Sheeran\u2019s tour. \u201cThis was an Ed Sheeran concert \u2014 not a political rally, not a protest and not an activist event,\u201d they said. \u201cThe issue is not whether Macklemore has the right to hold political views. The question is where the line should be drawn when an opening act uses a global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Sept. 5<\/a>, he once again said \u201cfree Palestine\u201d but also added that his declaration was \u201cin no way a criticism\u201d of Jewish people. A week later, he was dropped from the tour. At the time, Messina Touring Group \u2014 the promoter behind Sheeran\u2019s U.S. tour \u2014 said they had been \u201cnotified by venues\u201d that \u201cthey will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans. After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn solidarity with Macklemore, Sheeran\u2019s other opening acts \u2014 including Finneas, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe \u2014 as well as most of his backing band dropped out of the tour.<\/p>\n

\n\tMacklemore then claimed that Robert Kraft, owner of the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, refused to let him play at the venue and urged other stadium owners to do the same. Kraft responded by announcing that both he and Sheeran would be donating $2 million to \u201caid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis.\u201d Sheeran also posted a lengthy statement<\/a> saying that the decision to drop Macklemore was the promoter\u2019s, not his, and explaining why he chooses not to speak out on political issues, which generated further backlash against him.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cJust because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t have them, and it doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t care. Nor does it mean I don\u2019t support causes in my own, personal way,\u201d Sheeran wrote. \u201cThere is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics \u2014 my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds. Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum. I respect Macklemore\u2019s strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes. However, there is room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace. I choose to use my fame and platform to be a place of safety and sanctuary, to maintain diplomacy and keep conversations open, not closed. If we only focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change. There are different approaches to being an advocate for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut at his first show since Macklemore was dropped, on Sept. 19 in Philadelphia, Sheeran changed his tune and did speak up about the Israel-Gaza war. \u201cWhat happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable, and disproportionate,\u201d he said. \u201cOur hearts can be broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians\u2019 lives, children\u2019s lives and the systemic injustice we\u2019re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMacklemore, who performed a one-off show on October 22 at Colorado\u2019s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, continues his \u201cFree Palestine\u201d tour in Paris on Thursday and in London on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Macklemore dedicated his \u201cFree Palestine\u201d tour date to \u201clove and liberation\u201d as he kicked off the three-show trek…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2083,96,253605,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-814941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ed-sheeran","tag-entertainment","tag-macklemore","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}