American rapper Macklemore is facing backlash over his “Free Palestine” pleas made onstage during Ed Sheeran’s two nights in New Jersey.
The “Thrift Shop” musician, 43, took the stage as Sheeran’s opening act at MetLife Stadium on September 4 and 5, where he said “Free Palestine” before performing his 2024 protest song “Hind’s Hall,” which condemns Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
On Sunday, the Israeli-American Council launched a petition to Sheeran and his management, urging the musician to remove Macklemore from the remainder of the tour.
“At Ed Sheeran’s September 4 concert at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, opening act Macklemore used the stage to deliver an extended political message, called for ‘Free Palestine’ and performed Hind’s Hall while images from Gaza and other political messaging were projected across the stadium screens,” the petition began.
The IAC said the artist had used a “global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda” and added: “This was an Ed Sheeran concert — not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event.”
open image in gallery
open image in gallery“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 petition stated.
The organization also called on Sheeran’s team 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.”
“Hind’s Hall” is inspired by the Columbia University protesters who, in 2024, unfurled a banner over the academic building Hamilton Hall to name it “Hind’s Hall” in tribute to a six-year-old Palestinian girl called Hind Rajab, who was killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza while she was waiting for aid.
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Macklemore, real name Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, told the audience during Friday’s show that one of his main motivations for doing the tour was to share his message.
“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,” he told the audience, according to videos taken at the concert. “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.
“I have an 11-year-old daughter, her name is Sloan, she’s here tonight. And if any of you guys are parents, then you know that that love that you have for your kids cannot be put into words, right?”
open image in galleryHe continued: “I want to see her grow up, I want to see her go to school, to fall in love, to figure out meaning, purpose, joy, her existence on this planet. I want it to be the most beautiful possible. And I think that every single human being that walks this earth deserves that exact same feeling. 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.”
“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.”
Macklemore is scheduled as the support act for eight more dates on Sheeran’s Loop tour in the U.S. until November.
The artist has won four Grammys, including Best Rap Song for the 2012 song “Thrift Shop” and Best Rap Album for The Heist.
The Independent has contacted representatives for Sheeran and Macklemore for comment.