Macklemore donates $1m Ed Sheeran tour earnings to Palestinian causes after being dropped

Macklemore has announced that he will be donating the $1 million he made from the Ed Sheeran tour to organisations supporting Palestinian people.

Macklemore had been on Sheeran’s Loop Tour until earlier this week when it was announced that he’d been dropped from the remaining date after he called to ‘free Palestine’ while on stage.

In a statement shared on Monday (14 September), the US rapper said he was ditched after Gillette Stadium and Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft gave Sheeran an ‘ultimatum’.

Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, said: “Ed was in a ****** up position. He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before.

“He told me that the words 'Free Palestine' and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood. But he couldn’t get past his public facing: I don’t take sides.’”

Sheeran then shared his own statement in which he said that the decision to remove Macklemore had been down to the tour’s promoters and not him.

In a fresh update, Macklemore has revealed that he’ll be putting his money where his mouth is and donating his earnings from the tour to several causes.

"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," Macklemore wrote in a post on Instagram.

He said that he’ll be giving away his net earnings from the Loop Tour to six organisations that are ‘working directly to support’ people in Palestine: Palestine Children's Relief Fund, HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, UNRWA USA National Committee and Anera.

He continued: "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. That is what this has always been about. Not me. Not a tour. Not the headlines or the controversy. It is about Palestinians' right to freedom, dignity and safety in their own homeland."

He concluded his statement: “When the news cycle moves on, which it will, don’t move with it. Free Palestine.”

Macklemore’s gesture comes after Sheeran’s tour has been left in chaos after all of its support acts pulled out.

Irish singer Aaron Rowe, who was featuring on the North American leg of performances, was the first to announce he was quitting the tour yesterday (Tuesday 15 September).

This was swiftly followed by Finneas who also announced he wouldn’t be taking part in the tour, telling his fans: “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.”

And the walkouts didn’t end there, Irish band Beoga also shared a statement saying they’d no longer be taking part and Danish pop band Lukas Graham confirmed it would be exiting the tour just moments after Finneas made his announcement.

Amid the ongoing media storm surrounding the matter, Sheeran has lost around 100,000 Instagram followers, while Macklemore has seen his follower count grow by almost a million.