A pro-Israel organization is calling for the removal of Macklemore from Ed Sheeran‘s Loop Tour after the rapper’s onstage “Free Palestine” public plea.
On Friday, while opening for the “Shape of You” singer at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, Macklemore performed his protest song “Hind’s Hall.” He also told the audience, “A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine. I said, ‘Free Palestine!’ I want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.”
The Grammy winner added that he believes “every single human being that walks this earth deserves” to “know safety and peace before they know the sound of violence, to know the sound of laughter on a playground before planes and bombs, for parents to be able to say bye to their kids in the morning and not have to wonder if this is going to be the last time they kiss their child goodbye.”
“And if I let that fear I felt on the plane yesterday stop me from speaking my heart in order to keep my own comfort and the audience’s comfort, that is the day I no longer continue to be on stage,” Macklemore concluded. “So, I say, ‘Free Palestine!’ I say, free America, free Cuba to the Congo to Sudan to Iran, and all the people in America who have to live in fear because of this terrorist organization ICE.”
In response, the Israeli-American Council (IAC), which represents more than 150,000 Israeli-Americans, launched a petition, calling for Macklemore’s removal for the remaining tour dates.
“This was an Ed Sheeran concert – not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event,” the petition read. “The issue is not whether Macklemore has the right to hold political views. The question is where the line should be drawn when an opening act uses a global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda. This becomes even more troubling when the message relies on selective imagery, biased messaging, and disputed claims presented to a massive audience as fact, without context or complexity.”
The IAC is also calling “on tour leadership to clarify whether Macklemore’s political speech, visual content, and performance of ‘Hind’s Hall’ were approved in advance, and to establish clear boundaries for the use of the tour stage to promote political messaging.”
Macklemore wrote “Hind’s Hall” in 2024 in support of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza. The song was named after Hind’s Hall, Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall’s temporary name that was given by student protesters in honor of Hind Rajab, a young Palestinian girl who was killed in Gaza by IDF forces.
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