After being removed from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour, Macklemore has announced that he will return to the stage for his “Free Palestine” tour, with all proceeds to benefit Palestinian aid organizations.
The run will begin with three dates next month in Europe. It kicks off at Dublin’s 3Arena on Oct. 26, followed by Paris’ Accor Arena on Oct. 29 and London’s OVO Arena Wembley on Oct. 30.
Additional artist announcements and U.S. dates are forthcoming.
An artist presale begins at 10 a.m. local time on Monday on the rapper’s website.
The Thrift Shop rapper took to Instagram on Thursday to announce the tour, writing, “If these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it’s that something has shifted over the last three years. There has been a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call, and what we expect from artists right now.”
“It’s 2026. Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore. People are asking artists to show up, educate themselves and be in community. To use the stage for more than entertainment. To push back when the call for a Free Palestine is met with attempts to silence it,” he continued.
“What happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage. 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.”
The 43-year-old rapper said that his “schedule freed up a bit” and he has spent “the last week reaching out to artists who have shown up and used their stages to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, regardless of the consequences.”
“Artists who understand that our platforms mean very little if we’re only willing to use them when it’s safe,” Macklemore added. “Because of how quickly all of this has come together, a lot of the conversations, schedules and details are still being worked out. But this is a moment of momentum, and there is work to be done. So we’re going on tour.”
“All proceeds will benefit organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement,” his post concluded.
Get breaking National news
According to a press release from Live Nation, the shows will benefit several Palestinian aid organizations, including Anera, Glia, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Taawon, HEAL Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Jewish Voice for Peace, Medical Aid for Palestinians. Institute for Middle East Understanding, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and a UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA USA.
Last week, Macklemore made headlines when he revealed that he had been dropped as the opener from the remaining dates of Sheeran’s Loop Tour following his onstage comments supporting a Palestinian state.
The Glorious rapper took to Instagram after Sheeran’s tour promoter issued a statement to Rolling Stone, alleging that venues on the U.S. tour told the company they would “not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup.”
In response, Macklemore said his removal was the result of an effort led by Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots. His Kraft Group also owns Gillette Stadium, where the NFL team plays and where Sheeran is scheduled to perform later this month.
At the time, Sheeran said the decision to cut Macklemore from the Loop Tour was the promoter’s, not his own.
All of Sheeran’s other supporting acts dropped out, including a group that plays with Sheeran during part of the show, following the announcement of Macklemore’s removal.
Macklemore also announced he would donate $1 million from his net earnings from the Loop Tour to Palestinian relief funds and urged Kraft to follow suit.
In a statement released shortly after Macklemore pledged $1 million, Kraft, said he was contacted by Sheeran, who asked him to make a $2 million donation to “aid in the region.”
In the statement, Kraft said he was asked to match a $2 million endowment he said Sheeran was making.
During his first show since Macklemore was dropped from the tour, Sheeran told the crowd that he was receiving backlash for staying silent.
“This is not usually how I would open the show, but before I play some songs tonight, I hope it’s OK if I say a few words about this last week,” he began.
Sheeran said that he doesn’t want to “disappoint fans” and he never “wanted to be an activist musician.”
“Now, I want to address the question of where I stand on Israel and Palestine, and whether my doing this concert here tonight implies where I stand,” he continued. “I have tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind, because I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division; about humanity, not politics. But this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore.
“What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic, unjustifiable, and disproportionate. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives,” Sheeran said. “The systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked. I am already speaking to people across the spectrum to work out how to make a contribution that helps victims of these terrible times, and listening and learning because I do not know enough.”
Later during the concert, Sheeran became emotional and told his fans that “the last week of my life has been one of the worst weeks of my life.”
“I really didn’t know whether this tour would be carrying on. I really didn’t know whether I’d even be getting on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all. In these situations, you really find out who your friends are, and it’s been a weird week,” he said as he became emotional.
“Everyone’s telling me to cancel, and I’m feeling all of my friends and family and people I know abandon me. And I look at the end of the week, and I see 50,000 people who haven’t abandoned me. People will say what they want, but I am doing this for you. I love you,” Sheeran said.
“The world is a scary place right now. America is a scary place right now. This gives hope,” Sheeran said as he broke down in tears. “I hope you all have had fun.”
—With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press
Nope Abel. No one complained in 2014 because it was portraying something else
Yawn
Mackle who?
James got it right: Mackle-moron fits this Hamas loving loser to a tee.
Whatever helps you sleep at night, Anon. It was a Naz i salute, and he was dressed in Jew-Face. He was performing “Thrift Shop,” which was about money saving principles. Making fun of Jews using a steroptype. A well documented incident, and it doesn’t matter if it was from 2014, he still did it.
You have absolutely no chance at winning this argument.
You’re actually one of those deniers that if you were told the sky is blue, you’d say no, it’s red, and you’d never say otherwise.
Bankrupt this lefty loser.
Ed Sheeran is not doing this for his fans as he claims. He is doing it for the money and nothing else. All these Artists want is more more more money. And who is Macklemore? Never heard of him.
Macaroni who?
Seems like he’s a narcissist, attention seeking, uneducated, petulant child!
Abel, that costume was something else completely and was entirely a non issues 14 years ago.
The still picture of him raising his arm was not a salute. Nothing burger.
Haha, a one hit wonder cannot be a multi-platinum and diamond selling Grammy award winning artist.
Do you even understand what the words “one” and “multiple” mean? They don’t teach English in hasbara school?
Mackle-moron
Who???
@Anon September 24, 2026 at 10:59 pm. The one-hit wonder hasnt been relevant in over a decade. Peanut brain Anon doesn’t understand this
I will boycott every single musician that joins him and every single business that acts as sponsor and every single record label that does not drop their performers for supporting terrorists.
How did the Sheeran team select him to begin with, with his past??
Anon, you’re completely wrong there. He did wear Jew-Face and he did perform a Na zi salute. This is all in the public record and you can search it in Google. He did it while signing his “Thrift Shop” song which is about the joy of saving money, and used the costume to endorse a horrible stereotype about Jews and saving money.
You can’t refute facts, Anon.
Go away little boy,the adults have the floor.
That 2014 event was not jew face. It was something else completely. Debunked hasbara b. s.
Guy is a multi-platinum and diamond selling Grammy award winning artist. But the peanut gallery below wants to say “who?”.
Seems rather sleazy.
“Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore.”
That’s right. What does work is spending hundreds of dollars to attend my concert! lol
Who??
He’s still irrelevant lol
You have to hand it to him, it was a savvy career move. He was almost completely irrelevant before, now he’s in the news every day. He knows how to play the game.
This little N azi rapper dressed up in Jew-Face during one of his concerts in Seattle, and gave a N azi salute also. Google it
No one cares. Moving on.
What a goof
Whatever your views, never ever never back down!
“….with all proceeds benefiting Hamas, and their tunnel building efforts.”