Macklemore announces ‘Free Palestine Tour’
US rapper Macklemore, performs at the Goldencoast Rap Festival in Corcelles-les-Monts, near Dijon, central-eastern France, on August 30, 2026. (Phot (Getty Images)
After being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s 2026 US Loop Tour for discussing the Free Palestine movement on stage, Macklemore has now announced his own headline tour.
In the announcement X post shared on 24 September, Macklemore has claimed he was effectively silenced by the “billionaire class” as he announced a new tour that he said will raise money for “organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement.”
The rapper framed the situation as part of a wider fight over who is allowed a public platform.
“What happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage,” Macklemore wrote. He added: “When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention.”
He then announced: “So we’re going on tour.”
1 hour after the announcement, the post showed 72.1K likes, 15.5K reposts, and 695.4K views.
The tour will reach Dublin, Paris and London in October 2026.
Recent controversy and background
The statement follows recent public controversy around Macklemore’s live appearances and political messaging. Earlier this month, he appeared as an opening act on Ed Sheeran’s US Loop Tour, including a show at MetLife Stadium on 5 September where he said “Free Palestine” before performing his 2024 protest song “Hind’s Hall”, which condemns Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, as described in a petition urging Sheeran to remove him from the remainder of the tour.
Macklemore (Ben Haggerty) is a Seattle rapper best known for mainstream hits including ‘Thrift Shop’ and ‘Can’t Hold Us’. He has a public reputation for socially conscious pop-rap and for using his platform to comment on politics and inequality. He released ‘Same Love’ (with Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert), a pro-marriage-equality pop anthem of the early 2010s that became closely associated with LGBTQ+ rights-era pop culture. He has toured internationally and is known for high-energy live shows and direct engagement with fans online.
