US rapper Macklemore sets Free Palestine tour after being dumped from Ed Sheeran shows
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The tour will begin in Dublin and travel to Paris and London, Macklemore said in an Instagram post.
PHOTO: AFP
- US rapper Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour after making pro-Palestinian remarks, leading him to announce his own Free Palestine concert tour starting in October.
- The tour will visit Dublin, Paris and London, with proceeds going to organisations supporting Palestinians, as Macklemore urges artistes to use their platforms for activism.
- Sheeran said the removal was a tour organiser's decision, not his, and apologised for the situation, while Macklemore highlighted censorship by powerful interests and a growing awareness of Palestinian liberation.
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LOS ANGELES – American rapper Macklemore, who was dropped as the opening act for English singer Ed Sheeran over pro-Palestinian remarks, announced on Sept 24 he would headline his own Free Palestine concert tour that will start in October.
The tour will begin in Dublin and travel to Paris and London, Macklemore said in an Instagram post. US dates and additional performers will be announced later, he said, adding that proceeds would be donated to organisations that support the Palestinian people.
“Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work any more,” the 43-year-old said. “People are asking artistes to show up, educate themselves and be in community. To use the stage for more than entertainment. To push back when the call for a Free Palestine is met with attempts to silence it.”
The Grammy-winning rapper had been due to perform at eight additional Sheeran shows when he was removed earlier in September from the tour following remarks at a show in New Jersey.
“A big part of the reason 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: ‘Free Palestine’,” he said on stage.
Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, said owners of stadiums where Sheeran was set to play had objected to those remarks.
Israeli officials have strongly denied their actions in Gaza amount to genocide and say they are justified as self-defence.
Sheeran, one of the world’s top-selling recording artistes, said the decision to dump Macklemore came from tour organisers, not him, and that he tried to find a resolution.
The 35-year-old apologised for his handling of the situation at a performance in Philadelphia and decried Israel’s treatment of residents in Gaza as “unjustifiable”.
Macklemore has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s assault on Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank.
“If these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it’s that something has shifted over the last three years,” Macklemore said on Sept 24. “There has been a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call and what we expect from artistes right now.”
“What happened to me is bigger than one artiste or one stage,” he added. “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.” REUTERS