Rapper Macklemore announces 'Free Palestine' tour after Ed Sheeran fallout

Rapper Macklemore is launching a "Free Palestine" tour, days after being dropped from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour following pro-Palestinian comments he made onstage earlier this month.

"So, as you all know, my schedule freed up a bit," he said upon announcing the tour on Thursday.

The American artist - whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty - said proceeds from the tour, which launches in Dublin next month, will go to organisations supporting Palestinians.

Macklemore's onstage comments and subsequent removal from the tour led Sheeran's support acts to drop out, while the British singer stressed that the decision to drop the rapper was made by his promoter, not by himself.

In a statement on Thursday, the rapper said that the last couple of weeks had shown him there had been "a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call, and what we expect from artists right now".

"What happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage," he said. "When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention."

Macklemore said he had spent the last week contacting artists who had used their platforms to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, regardless of the consequences.

Due to how quickly the tour came together, several details were still being worked out, he added: "But this is a moment of momentum, and there is work to be done."

Macklemore's new tour will begin in Dublin on 26 October followed by Paris on 29 October and London on 30 October.

US dates will also be added, he said, with additional tickets going on sale next week.

While performing as the opening act for Sheeran at a concert in early September in New Jersey, Macklemore said: "A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine."

The Thrift Shop rapper then performed a song dedicated to pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University.

After he was taken off the tour on 14 September, Macklemore accused stadium owners of rallying together to push him out. He was also accused by billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft of hate speech and antisemitic rhetoric surrounding Israel and Gaza.

Sheeran early on said that the decision to drop Macklemore from his tour was made by concert promoter Messina Touring Group.

His early remarks led to all of his support acts to drop out of the tour in solidarity, and fans to express frustration. Ticket prices for the tour plummeted as well.

Sheeran addressed the controversy head-on during the start of his set in Philadelphia last week.

He said he had made "mistakes" handling the fallout, apologising to fans and taking a stand on the Israel-Gaza conflict, which he said was "a humanitarian issue".

He described the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks as "horrific", and also called the situation in Gaza "unjustifiable and disproportionate".

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