Macklemore announced that he will donate all of the $1 million in net proceeds he earned from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organizations supporting Palestinians.
The US rapper also asked New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft to make a donation of the same amount. Macklemore said that, even if their views differ, common ground could be found on protecting Palestinian lives.
The decision came days after Macklemore announced that he had been removed from Sheeran’s US tour because of his pro-Palestinian statements. Kraft confirmed that he had pressured Sheeran to remove Macklemore from the tour, alleging that the rapper had “a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.”
Kraft also barred Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium, which is owned by the Patriots. Macklemore said the donation was not about him or the tour dispute, drawing attention to parents taking their children to hospitals that lack basic medical supplies, as well as doctors, medical personnel, journalists and aid workers continuing to carry out their duties.
The rapper also paid tribute to Muhammad al-Zinati, a Palestinian youth whom he said was killed in an Israeli attack the previous day while trying to help the wounded. Macklemore said al-Zinati was a child and that both deaths should have been prevented.
Macklemore argued that the aid alone could not change the conditions that had left Palestinians in need of assistance. Describing those conditions as a man-made injustice, the rapper said urgent political change was needed and that Palestinians should not have to wait any longer for freedom.
Earlier this month, Macklemore chanted “Free Palestine” and performed his protest song “Hind’s Hall” at a concert with Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The rapper announced after the performance that he had been removed from Sheeran’s US tour.
Macklemore, who said he had been friends with Sheeran for 13 years, said Sheeran told him that Kraft had organized a boycott among other stadium owners unless Macklemore was removed from the tour.
Sheeran said the decision had not been made by him but by the tour’s stadiums and organizers. Saying that he had personal views but preferred not to express them publicly, Sheeran said he wanted his platform to remain a safe space rather than become a political forum.
