Macklemore Pledges $1 Million Donation to Palestinian Relief Charities

Macklemore says he plans to turn a high-profile setback into a substantial donation, pledging $1 million (€872,000) from his net earnings tied to Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to organisations that support Palestinians.

The announcement follows the rapper being dropped as a supporting act after comments he made about Gaza.

In the fallout, every remaining support act on Sheeran’s Loop Tour — Irish singer Aaron Rowe, Grammy-winning musician Finneas, Danish singer Lukas Graham and Irish backing band Beoga — has also withdrawn from the dates still to come.

Posting on Instagram, Macklemore — whose real name is Ben Haggerty — said the last two days of controversy should not eclipse what he described as the core issue.

“With everything that has happened over the last 48 hours, I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation, and still fighting for their freedom.

“I will be donating the entire 1 million (dollars) of my net earnings from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organisations working directly to support the Palestinian people.”

On Monday, Macklemore said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft — whose Kraft Group owns Gillette Stadium — had reached out to Sheeran and insisted the shows could not proceed if Macklemore remained on the bill.

Macklemore said Ed Sheeran told him that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft had said he would not be allowed to perform at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts on 25 and 26 September

He urged the US businessman to match the giving, writing that despite disagreements, there could be common ground: “whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting. A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth”.

Macklemore argued that humanitarian assistance, while important, does not resolve the circumstances that create the need for it in the first place.

“Aid alone cannot address the conditions that make it necessary. This is a manmade injustice and I believe it requires immediate political change.

“Palestinians have lived for decades without basic rights and should not have to wait another day to be free. This is where my focus will remain,” he said.

He said the donations would go to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, UNRWA USA and American Near East Refugee Aid.

Sheeran responded on Tuesday, saying online that the decision to remove Macklemore was made by the promoter rather than by him personally.

He said that “upcoming tour dates had communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting”, adding that Mr Kraft was among those raising objections.

The singer wrote, “I am not complicit. I have my personal views on this devastating conflict.”

Sheeran said he was “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine” and that he continued to respect Macklemore “as an artist”.

In a statement shared by Mr Kraft, the businessman said he barred the US rapper after remarks made on stage, citing what he called a “broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community”.

Sheeran’s next show is due on 19 September at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, where Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe had been scheduled to open.

He has 17 dates remaining across North and South America, before the tour concludes on 11 December in Mexico City.