Macklemore is making his own lane in support of Palestine after being dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour.
The rapper announced Thursday, Sept. 24, that he is creating the Free Palestine Tour in support of awareness and humanitarian efforts for Palestine and Palestinians. The concert series will kick off in October with arena shows in Dublin, Paris, and London. The Grammy-winning rapper will also be sharing US dates as well as artists joining him soon.
“It’s 2026. Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore,” Macklemore wrote in an Instagram post announcing the tour. “People are asking artists 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.”
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Robert Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots, and other stadium owners pushed to remove Macklemore from the tour because Sheeran was scheduled to make several more stops with the rapper on the bill. During Sheeran's MetLife Stadium tour dates earlier this month, Macklemore shared a “Free Palestine” message amid the war in Gaza. The other openers, Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe, and Beoga, voluntarily backed out of the tour in solidarity with Macklemore and Palestine.
“What happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage,” Macklemore added in his caption. “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.”
What did Ed Sheeran say about Macklemore's exit?
Sheeran opened his Philly tour stops addressing the tour controversy with an emotional delivery.
Article Continues Below“This is not usually how I open a show, but before I play some songs tonight I hope it’s OK if I say a few words about this last week,” Sheeran began. “I’m used to my music being criticized, and I’m always happy to take that because I’m lucky a lot of you like my stuff… But this week the criticism was about something much more important. And I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so sorry.”
He added: “But this put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.”
Sheeran addressed his concern of venues filtering the artists' content seemingly referencing the Kraft and Macklemore feud. The rapper challenged Kraft to donate $1 million to Palestinian relief groups and shared that he has donated $2 million to aid Palestinians amid the war in Gaza.
“Honoring my commitment to my fans is completely central to who I am, and that is why I’m here tonight on my own and continuing my current tour,” Sheeran continued. “But I am deeply worried about the idea of venues pre-approving content of performers. This happens in so many places I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world.”
Sheeran has spoke out following Macklemore's departure, as he addressed the controversy in a message on Instagram last week.