Macklemore Announced a ‘Free Palestine’ Tour Weeks After He Was Dropped as Ed Sheeran’s Opener for Making Palestine Speeches on Stage

Macklemore has announced a “Free Palestine” tour, with all concert proceeds going to 12 organizations that support Palestinians and provide humanitarian aid. The three shows are scheduled for Dublin on October 26, Paris on October 29 and London on October 30, and the rapper said other artists and friends will join him on stage.

The beneficiaries are Anera, Glia, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Taawon, HEAL Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Jewish Voice for Peace, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Institute for Middle East Understanding, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and UNRWA USA.

The announcement follows Macklemore’s removal as an opener on Ed Sheeran ‘s U.S. tour, which came after he delivered pro-Palestine speeches during two concerts at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Macklemore said Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft refused to let him perform at the venue and contacted other stadium owners about barring him, prompting tour organizers to drop him.

Macklemore later pledged his entire $1 million tour salary to organizations supporting Palestine. Kraft responded that he and Sheeran would each donate $2 million toward humanitarian aid in the region, without naming specific recipients.

“If these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it’s that something has shifted over the last three years,” Macklemore wrote in the Instagram post announcing the tour. He said audiences now expect artists to use their stages for more than entertainment, adding, “It’s 2026. Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore.”

Sheeran, for his part, initially said he kept politics off his professional platform because children and people from many backgrounds attend his concerts. At his September 19 show, he called the October 7 attack in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival “horrific,” then described what is happening in Gaza as “catastrophic and unjustifiable, and disproportionate.”