Macklemore has announced that he’ll be donating the $1 million in net earnings he received from supporting Ed Sheeran on his Loop Tour to organisations working to support the Palestinian people, and invited billionaire Robert Kraft to match his donation.
The rapper was dropped from Sheeran’s current tour earlier this week after saying “free Palestine” on stage and delivering a political speech at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey at the beginning of September. He appeared to place the blame on New England Patriots owner Kraft, saying that the mogul had rallied other stadium owners to refuse to allow him to perform at their venues.
A rep for Kraft declined to comment on Macklemore‘s request to match the donation.
On Wednesday, Macklemore posted another lengthy note on social media sharing that he would be donating his net earnings to organizations including Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, Heal Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, UNRWA USA National Committee and Anera.
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“With everything that has happened over the last 48 hours, I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation, and still fighting for their freedom,” he wrote. “I will be donating the entire $1 million of my net earnings from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organisations working directly to support the Palestinian people. And I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation. Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting. A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth.”
Macklemore explained that he wants to “center the parents carrying their children into hospitals without the basic resources to treat them, and the physicians, paramedics, journalists and aid workers who keep going back in. I want to center the organizers and activists who have paid real costs for standing with Palestine. Their risk is of a far different order than mine.
“Palestinians have lived for decades without basic rights and should not have to wait another day to be free,” he continued. “That is where my focus will remain. I will continue to stand with the Palestinian people and their fight for liberation. When the news cycle moves on, which it will, don’t move with it. Free Palestine.”
Macklemore’s latest efforts come after a tumultuous day for Sheeran, who released a statement on Tuesday morning sharing that he had nothing to do with Macklemore’s dismissal from his tour and that he preferred to remain neutral when it came to political causes. Not long after, all of the supporting acts on the Loop tour — Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham and Beoga — announced that they were dropping out in solidarity with Macklemore and the Palestinian people.
From Variety US