Macklemore wrapped up his three-city European tour with a sold-out concert at London’s OVO Arena Wembley, only to find that bringing the same fundraising effort to the United States would face a wall of rejections from major arena operators.
Macklemore Faces U.S. Arena Rejections After European Benefit Tour
The Seattle rapper, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, launched the Free Palestine benefit tour following his removal from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour in September. Sheeran dropped Macklemore as an opening act after the rapper uttered pro-Palestinian remarks during a New Jersey concert.
In response, Macklemore organized independent benefit shows in Dublin, Paris, and London, which sold out quickly and raised funds for organizations providing humanitarian assistance, medical care, and other support to Palestinians.
The Dublin concert took place at a sold-out 3Arena on the October bank holiday, followed by a performance at Paris’s Accor Arena on 29 October, and finally the Wembley finale. The three concerts were organised as benefit events, with all funds going to organisations supporting Palestinians, including Medical Aid for Palestinians, UNRWA USA, the Gaza Soup Kitchen, and HEAL Palestine.
Buoyed by the European run, organizers planned to bring the tour to the United States. But after weeks of outreach, nine major American arenas turned down the dates. Through a lengthy Instagram post, Macklemore enumerated the facilities that refused to host him: Climate Pledge Arena, Chase Center, Crypto.com Arena, Kia Forum, Intuit Dome, UBS Arena, Barclays Center, Prudential Center, and Madison Square Garden.
By mid-September, we received available dates at these arenas through the end of the year,
Macklemore wrote. But once they found out these were my benefit shows for Palestine, those dates were suddenly off the table. The doors were closed. 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 over 20 years of touring, I’ve never experienced anything like this.
Industry Backlash Meets Musician Solidarity
Following objections from businessman and sports owner Robert Kraft—who was displeased by Macklemore’s performance of his pro-Palestinian protest song Hind’s Hall and urged American venue operators to drop Sheeran’s remaining dates if Macklemore remained on the bill—the rapper was removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour.
Macklemore rejected the framing that his performances were a platform for hate speech in his statement, arguing that the cancellations stemmed from fear of challenging established systems of power. To these owners, the words Free Palestine represent a threat,
he wrote. Not because they endanger anyone, but because those words challenge the systems of power they have built their fortunes on.
Reflecting on his motivation, the musician explained that staying silent became harder than speaking out, noting that he does not believe saying something is brave or courageous, but rather human. He added that the intimidation, manipulation, and suppression experienced by artists are tactics used by those in power to keep entertainers quiet, telling audiences to shut up and dribble, or you will be punished.
Despite this, he stated that he would rather lose every opportunity in the industry than protect people who value business relationships with Israel more than Palestinian human life.
'It breaks my heart to think that anyone thinks their child is more important than someone else's'. British singer Paloma Faith speaks about motherhood and the value of every child's life during Macklemore's Free Palestine benefit concert. pic.twitter.com/R6RnbbGTiA
Cultural Figures and Activists Contribute to Benefit Events
The evening also included a screening of a short film by Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda, contributions from Nadia Greenspan, and appearances by Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos and Antoine Raffoul, a Palestinian displaced during the 1948 Nakba. Actor Javier Bardem sent a message to the event, while other cultural figures such as Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Cynthia Nixon, and Julian Casablancas of The Strokes also contributed, some appearing remotely.
The Paris stop at Accor Arena featured performances by Aurora, Pomme, Portugal. The Man, DJ Habibeatz, Redveil, Siba, Tamer Nafar, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, and Zeyne. Hozier and Kneecap delivered sets at the star-studded London charity concert, with Hozier utilizing his platform to demand that the Irish government issue visas to Gazan students that had been denied to them throughout the year.
Despite the hurdles in securing U.S. venues, Macklemore indicated that the fundraising effort would press on outside traditional corporate spaces. We’ll keep working with other artists and organizers, continuing where we left off in Europe,
he stated. We’ll probably just take that shit outside where it belonged in the first place.