American rapper Macklemore says nine major US concert venues, including New York’s Madison Square Garden and Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, have refused to host his Free Palestine tour, which recently concluded three European dates.
In a social media post on Friday, the rapper said the venues had declined to let him book available dates through the end of 2026, preventing the planned performances from taking place.
“The shows were not going to be allowed to happen in these venues,” he said. “In over 20 years of touring, I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
The announcement follows Macklemore’s removal from English singer Ed Sheeran’s concert tour after he voiced support for Palestine on stage, saying “Free Palestine.”
Macklemore launched his Free Palestine tour following the fallout with Sheeran. The three-city European tour included performances in Dublin, Paris, and London, with proceeds pledged to organizations supporting Palestinians.
Opening the tour in Dublin on October 27, the rapper vowed to continue fighting for “collective liberation” until his “last breath.”
The Dublin concert sold out within minutes, with all 13,000 tickets for the 3Arena snapped up. Fans attended wearing Palestinian flags, Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, and pro-Palestinian clothing, chanting, “Free, free Palestine” throughout the performance.
‘Billionaires decide which lives are worth defending’
Responding to the rejection of his proposed US performances, Macklemore criticized the influence of wealthy individuals over which causes and voices are permitted in the country’s cultural venues.
He wrote that the United States “prides itself on freedom of speech.” “Yet we’ve reached a point where a handful of billionaires can decide which causes are acceptable, which voices are welcome, and which human lives are worth defending.”
During the European tour, he also addressed the controversy surrounding his removal from Sheeran’s concerts, saying, “Those two words are so threatening to some people that we’d rather silence those two words than confront what they actually mean... Somehow those words have become more controversial than the suffering that made them necessary.”
Macklemore said he would work with other artists and organizers to arrange further performances in support of Palestinians.
In May 2024, the rapper released “Hind’s Hall,” a protest song honoring Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl, who was killed after the vehicle carrying her family came under intense fire by Israeli forces in Gaza in October 2023.
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