Macklemore announces solo tour weeks after being dropped from Sheeran’s Loop Tour

Rapper Macklemore is launching a “Free Palestine” tour, days after being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour over pro-Palestinian comments made onstage earlier this month, BBC reports.

“So, as you all know, my schedule freed up a bit,” Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, said while announcing the tour on Thursday, adding that proceeds would go to organisations supporting Palestinians.

In a statement, he said the past weeks had revealed “a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call, and what we expect from artists right now,” further warning that “when the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage… everyone should be paying attention.”

The tour will begin in Dublin on October 26, followed by Paris and London, with US dates to be announced. Macklemore’s removal from Sheeran’s tour had already triggered all four remaining support acts to quit in solidarity, while billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft separately accused him of antisemitic rhetoric, a claim Macklemore has rejected.

Sheeran, for his part, has maintained that the decision to drop Macklemore was made by promoter Messina Touring Group rather than himself, later admitting during a Philadelphia show that he had made “mistakes” handling the fallout.

He described the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks as “horrific” while also calling the situation in Gaza “unjustifiable and disproportionate” — remarks that, alongside Macklemore’s new tour, signal the controversy is far from fading from the spotlight.