“I said, Free Palestine. I want those words to be loud and clear, so the people from Gaza, all the way to the occupied West Bank, know that we have not forgotten them.”
Macklemore’s declaration in support of the people of Palestine has re-focused the world’s attention to the ongoing Israeli genocide in Palestine. Since 2023, Israel has murdered more than 70,000 people in Gaza. Israel has targeted journalists, schools, and most especially hospitals. The entire civilian infrastructure has been decimated and the total two-month Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid has resulted in famine-like conditions. Global Conflict Tracker reports that “[i]n August 2025, 1.9 million Gazans—about 90 percent of Gaza’s population—were displaced and facing acute or catastrophic food shortages.” Israel is continuing its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and its catastrophic war on Lebanon.
On stage on September 4, while opening for Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Macklemore introduced his song “Hind’s Hall” by declaring “A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine." He then launched into “Hind’s Hall” while showing the horrors of the Israeli attack on Gaza and pro-Palestinian protests on a big screen behind him. The song “Hind’s Hall” is a condemnation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and specifically the Israeli Defense Forces’ killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab in 2024. Hind was shot dead in a car by Israeli soldiers after the IDF had already murdered her mother and father. In protest, pro-Palestinian students occupied Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall and changed its name to “Hind’s Hall.”
The following night, Macklemore took the mic speaking to Jewish people in the audience, “Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, is in no way a criticism of you,” and that “he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten.”
In swift reaction, pro-Israel groups condemned Macklemore’s performance and called for his removal as an opening act on Sheeran’s tour. Immediately, Robert Kraft, a major contributor to the state of Israel and the owner of Gillette Stadium where Macklemore was to again open for Sheeran, announced that if Macklemore was in the line-up, he would cancel the Sheeran tour. Other stadium owners joined in the threat to cancel the remaining tour dates in their venues as well. The artist Pink condemned Macklemore’s performance as “antisemitic.” Ed Sheeran, himself, declared that he was “not complicit” in the Israeli genocide in Gaza but insisted that his shows remain “apolitical.”
Referring to Sheeran’s desire to remain “apolitical,” Macklemore wrote, “Taking a side can cost you. Money, brand deals, sponsorships, festivals, private shows, relationships and access. I've lost all of those things. But there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed.” He also expressed that having done only two shows on the tour, he hoped that if he had “[turned] the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I've ever been on.”
But within hours, overwhelming support of Macklemore poured out in his defense with others of Sheeran’s opening acts—Irish singer Aaron Rowe and Sheeran’s house band Beoga, the Danish band Lukas Graham, and Finneas—pulling out of the tour. Beoga’s statement said “We are Irish people who understand colonialism. As founding members of the Irish Artists for Palestine movement, we are committed activists for justice and will continue to be. This whole episode is once again serving to distract from the real issue, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since the most recent so‑called ceasefire.”
Finneas wrote on Instagram, “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed. I have decided to withdraw from my upcoming tour dates with Ed Sheeran. I stand with Palestine and its people.” Aaron Rowe proclaimed, “[As] Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation,” and that I can’t “stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up...”
Macklemore’s firm and principled stance inspired many beyond as the debate raged on social media. He gained over 2.24 million new Instagram followers in the days following his removal from the tour. And in Gaza, children sent him “thank you” messages, and artists sent him paintings showing their respect.
It’s outrageous that Macklemore is being censored over his support of the Palestinian people. His example should move those who have been silent about the genocide to follow his lead. And if you care about the people of Gaza, and of the world, it should move to you ask how we can end this horror.
The revolutionary communist leader Bob Avakian posed and answered the question “why should I care about Palestine?”:
...I know some people say: “Why should I care about things like Palestine, we’ve got enough problems right here that need to be dealt with.”
First of all, you should care because you are a human being. And, the fact is that things will never be made right—and masses of people will never get out of the hell they are in—as long as this system of capitalism-imperialism continues to rule over people here and to dominate the world.
The problem for people everywhere is THIS SYSTEM. This system of capitalism-imperialism that is the force behind the slaughter of people in Palestine is the same system that is causing so much misery for masses of people in this country. Ripping away basic rights, treating whole groups of people as “second class” and less than human. Maintaining many in desperate conditions and driving many to desperate acts. Poisoning people’s minds with this system’s putrid culture and depraved “values”: “do for self and to hell with everybody else”...“get what you want, any way you can”...“pursue your dreams,” while sleepwalking through the real nightmare. Distracting and demoralizing people with dead-end and deadening pursuits. Terrorizing people with brutality and murder by the police, and mass incarcerating people already denied a decent life. All this while this same system robs people here and everywhere of a future worth living in, or any future at all, with the accelerating destruction of the environment and the wars which threaten to go over to all-out conflict between nuclear-armed powers which could wipe out humanity.
All this is why you, why every decent person, should care—and should act to do something about this—to do the most meaningful thing that could be done: to be part of the revolution to put an end to this system, and all the misery it imposes on people everywhere.
