Macklemore Says His Call to ‘Free Palestine’ Is Not a ‘Criticism’ of Jewish People: ‘None of Us Will Be Free Until We Are All Free’

Macklemore is speaking out about his call to “Free Palestine,” which the rapper made while opening for Ed Sheeran on Friday night at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. None of us will be free until we are all free.” During his Friday night set, Macklemore told the audience that he wanted the people in Gaza and the West Bank to know that he had not forgotten them: “I believe that every human being walking on this earth deserves exactly the same freedom.” The statement caused the Israeli American Council to release a petition that demands that the four-time Grammy winner be removed from the rest of Sheeran’s Loop tour. The petition reads, “This was an Ed Sheeran concert – not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event.

The 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.”