{"id":438599,"date":"2026-09-17T08:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/438599\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T08:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:38:20","slug":"macklemore-donates-1m-in-ed-sheeran-tour-earnings-to-palestinian-aid-calls-on-robert-kraft-to-match-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/438599\/","title":{"rendered":"Macklemore Donates $1M in Ed Sheeran Tour Earnings to Palestinian Aid, Calls on Robert Kraft to Match It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macklemore<\/a> is challenging Robert Kraft to put his money where his mouth is amid the controversy surrounding Ed Sheeran<\/a>\u2018s Loop Tour and the \u201cFree Palestine\u201d debate.<\/p>\n

The rapper spoke out once again Wednesday (Sept. 16) after a two-day frenzy<\/a> that saw every single one of Sheeran\u2019s tour openers pulling out of Loop in solidarity with Palestinians and with Macklemore, who was dropped from the trek over his onstage protests earlier in the month against the violence in Gaza. \u201cWith everything that has happened over the last 48 hours, I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be donating the entire $1 million of my net earnings from Ed Sheeran\u2019s Loop Tour to six organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd I invite Robert Kraft\u201d \u2014 the billionaire who allegedly rallied other Loop Tour venue owners to get Macklemore dropped from the bill \u2014 \u201cto match my donation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting,\u201d the Seattle native added. \u201cA Palestinian life is no less valuable than another life on this earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billboard has reached out to Kraft and Sheeran\u2019s reps for comment.<\/p>\n

Macklemore\u2019s call to action comes after he first named Kraft in a statement<\/a> claiming that the businessman had threatened to cancel the upcoming Loop shows at Gillette Stadium, which is owned by Kraft Group, unless Sheeran\u2019s team dropped the hip-hop star from the bill. Macklemore also alleged that Kraft had spoken on behalf of other stadium owners, who gave the British pop singer similar ultimatums. <\/p>\n

\u201cEd was in a f\u2013ked up position,\u201d Macklemore wrote. \u201cHe knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday (Sept. 14), the trek\u2019s U.S. promoter, Messina Touring Group, announced: \u201cWe have been notified by venues on the upcoming U.S. tour dates that they 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

The following day, Kraft issued a statement<\/a>, in which he explained that he\u2019d made the call in order to prevent Gillette from being used as \u201ca platform for hate speech,\u201d while also acknowledging \u201cthe suffering of innocent Palestinians \u2026 their pain and loss are real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community,\u201d Kraft had also written. \u201cI would welcome the opportunity to sit down with Macklemore and discuss the facts, because ultimately our goal is the same \u2013 peace for all people, an end to suffering, and an end to all hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organizations to which Macklemore will donate his tour earnings include Palestine Children\u2019s Relief Fund, HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, the UNRWA USA National Committee and Anera. <\/p>\n

\u201cWriting a check is one of the least costly forms of solidarity available to me,\u201d the musician wrote in his Wednesday call to action. \u201cI am doing it because I can, and because these organizations are doing the work while much of the world debates it \u2026 When the news cycle moves on, which it will, don\u2019t move with it. Free Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFree Palestine\u201d were initially the words that started the debacle in the first place, along with Macklemore\u2019s performance of his protest anthem \u201cHind\u2019s Hall\u201d alongside images of the violence in Gaza at Sheeran\u2019s shows at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4 and 5. In the 2024 track, the rapper asserts that Israel has been committing genocide against Palestinian people over the past three years, sparked by the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

The United Nations has also classified Israel\u2019s actions as genocide, but Israel and the United States, which are allies, have denied this. According to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry, more than 73,000 Palestinians had died in Israel\u2019s repeated strikes as of July, and countless others continue to face hunger and homelessness. <\/p>\n

After Macklemore made his statement about being dropped from the tour, Sheeran confirmed that he had been part of discussions with Kraft and other venue owners about the decision, but emphasized that ultimately, Messina Touring Group had been the party responsible for dismissing Macklemore. <\/p>\n

\u201cMacklemore coming off tour was the promoter\u2019s decision, it was not mine,\u201d Sheeran wrote<\/a> in a Tuesday (Sept. 15) statement. \u201cMacklemore\u2019s contract for the tour was with the promoter, not me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheeran also said at the time that he would \u201cnever let down the fans who had made plans, nor would I abandon the touring crew and the other support acts and musicians who rely on me for work and to make a living.\u201d Within hours, however, all of the remaining support acts referenced by Sheeran \u2014 Aaron Rowe, Finneas and Lukas Graham \u2014 had dropped out<\/a>, each posting statements backing up Macklemore\u2019s stance in support of Palestinians. <\/p>\n

See Macklemore\u2019s post below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Macklemore is challenging Robert Kraft to put his money where his mouth is amid the controversy surrounding Ed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,151980,123074,287],"class_list":["post-438599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-macklemore","tag-nsfs","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}