Macklemore says that nine major US arenas have refused to host his Free Palestine fundraising tour, calling out “intimidation, manipulation and suppression” tactics. In an Instagram post, the rapper says that he hoped to bring the tour to the US, but nine major arenas refused to host the event, including New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Los Angeles’s Crypto.com arena and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Last month, Macklemore brought the Free Palestine tour to Dublin, London and Paris in a show praised by the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis as “a triumph”.
The shows came in the wake of Ed Sheeran dropping the rapper from his US tour after he made an onstage speech in support of Palestine. But once they found out these were my benefit shows for Palestine, those dates were suddenly off the table,” he said. The conversations were all different, but the result was the same.
The shows were not going to be allowed to happen in these venues.” In an impassioned post that spanned seven Instagram slides, Macklemore said that he no longer cared about burning bridges with music industry top dogs. Shut up and dribble, or you will be punished. Sheeran claimed that US venues told him that they would refuse to host the show if the rapper continued as the tour’s supporting act.
Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn’t mean I don’t have them, and it doesn’t mean that I don’t care. Nor does it mean that I don’t support causes in my own, personal way.” Shortly after, all four opening acts as well as Sheeran’s live band quit the tour in solidarity with Macklemore. On social media, the rapper said: “I’d rather lose every opportunity in this industry than spend another day protecting people who value their business relationships with Israel more than they value Palestinian human life.
Where artists value their freedom of speech and collective liberation more than their brand deals. Tens of thousands of people from different backgrounds, religions and walks of life standing together. More than forty artists and speakers putting their names and platforms behind Palestinian liberation.
For all the attempts to paint this movement as one rooted in hatred, what filled those rooms was love.” Macklemore went on to say that the political mood of the US was changing in the wake of the Democrats sweeping the midterm elections this week. AIPAC spent $42m trying to defeat him. And they still couldn’t win.
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