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When Macklemore announced his Free Palestine Tour—a run of benefit shows in Dublin, London, and Paris following his removal as Ed Sheeran’s opener —he promised U.S. dates were not far behind. But Stateside arenas, like their football stadium counterparts, are apparently less than enthused to book the rapper over his pro-Palestine comments. In a statement posted to Instagram on November 6, Macklemore accused nine venues of not allowing the tour to move forward.
“We received available dates at these arenas through the end of the year. But once they found out these were my benefit shows for Palestine, those dates were suddenly off the table,” he wrote. “The doors were closed. The conversations were all different, but the result was the same. These shows were not going to be allowed to happen in these venues. In over twenty years of touring, I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
The arenas Macklemore named were Madison Square Garden, Prudential Center. Barclays Center, UBS Arena, Intuit Dome, Kia Forum, Crypto.com Arena, Chase Center, and Climate Pledge Arena. Pitchfork has reached out to representatives at each venue for comment. So far, only the Garden has responded, with a typically petty statement: “We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability and he’s not an arena level act.”
“I’m three years past giving two shits about maintaining any relationships, business or personal, with anyone that isn’t riding for a Free Palestine,” the rapper added, noting that he will continue to look for spaces to perform. “I’d rather lose every opportunity in this industry than spend another day protecting people who value their business relationships with Israel more than they value Palestinian human life.”
You can read his full statement below.
Macklemore:
Good day my people. A lot of you have been asking about U.S. dates for The Free Palestine benefit tour and I wanted to give you an update.
The shows in Dublin, Paris and London were three of the most beautiful I’ve ever been a part of. Thank you to everyone who shared in those nights of joy, love and resistance. I left with a renewed sense of what’s possible when people come together for something bigger than themselves.
From the beginning, our plan was to bring this tour home to the U.S.
But after weeks of reaching out, nine major American arenas have turned us down.