Macklemore Says Nine U.S. Arenas Refused to Host His “Free Palestine” Benefit Tour
Macklemore is naming names.
In a statement posted to Instagram on Friday (November 6), the Grammy-winning rapper accused nine major U.S. arenas of refusing to host his upcoming “Free Palestine” benefit tour. According to Macklemore, the venues had approved the concerts in September — before learning the shows would benefit Palestinians.
“Those dates were suddenly off the table. The doors were closed,” he wrote. “In over twenty years of touring, I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
The nine venues he named: Madison Square Garden, UBS Arena and Barclays Center in New York; Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey; Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle; Chase Center in San Francisco; and Intuit Dome, Kia Forum and Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles County.
At least one venue has answered. In a statement to USA TODAY, an MSG Entertainment spokesperson said: “We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability and he’s not an arena level act.” USA TODAY has reached out to each of the nine venues for comment.
The arena fight follows Macklemore being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour over his vocal support for Palestinians — a decision that prompted other artists to withdraw in response. Robert Kraft, whose Gillette Stadium was among the venues objecting to Macklemore’s place on that tour, said the rapper’s comments and actions contributed to the call.
Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, just completed three sold-out benefit concerts in Dublin, Paris and London. All proceeds from the concerts benefit 12 organizations supporting Palestinians through medical care, humanitarian assistance, education, advocacy and community programs, including Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, Medical Aid for Palestinians and UNRWA USA.
And he says the U.S. shows are happening one way or another: more benefit concerts are confirmed, on stages of his own making. “We will build our own stages. They may own the arenas. But they do not own the people who fill them. And they never will.”
Source: USA TODAY, reporting Macklemore’s November 6 Instagram statement.
