Amid a circulated petition to remove him from the opening tour slot of Ed Sheeran’s tour, Macklemore has defended his pro-Palestine comments.
Urging Sheeran to “remove Macklemore” from the remainder of his Loop Tour after he declared “free Palestine,” the Israeli-American Council has started a petition calling for “safety and peace” during his Friday set at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. In its petition, the Israeli-American Council argued that Sheeran’s concert was not a political rally or protest and accused Macklemore of using his opening set “to advance a one-sided political agenda”.
Addressing the backlash, on Monday (9.07,) the musician (born Ben Haggerty) posted a video of a speech he gave the audience during Saturday’s MetLife show. Insisting that his support for Palestine is “in no way a criticism” of Jewish people, the 43-year old captioned the post “Wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial,” adding:
“To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.” “My message is for peace; love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality.” “So I say free Palestine, I say free Lebanon, I say free Cuba, I say free Congo, free Sudan, I say free all people in America living in fear of this terrorist organisation, ICE. None of us will be free until we are all free.”
Macklemore’s position has received backlash from fellow musicians.
Boy George, who recently released a pro-Israel song, wrote on X that the “Free Palestine” slogan offers “the appearance of moral courage without requiring much political knowledge”.
Taking to her Instagram Stories, Pink shared a post from an antisemitism group which accused Macklemore of ambushing Sheeran’s fans with his “anti-Israel propaganda” and turning “a mainstream event into a political nightmare against the Jewish state”.
As of press time, Ed Sheeran has yet to comment on the controversy.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: San Francisco Foghorn