Macklemore to Donate $1 Million Ed Sheeran Tour Earnings to Palestine Aid, Invites Robert Kraft to Match Him

Last week, Macklemore said that he had been ousted as an opener on the U.S.leg of Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour after calling for a free Palestine onstage.

Now, the rapper has pledged to donate $1 million of his net earnings from the tour to six organizations supporting Palestinian aid.“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 said on Instagram.The Ben artist also invited New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft to match his donation, which will be split between HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, American Near East Refugee Aid, Medical Aid for Palestinians, and the UNRWA U.S.A.

National Committee.Macklemore has accused Kraft of pressuring Sheeran into removing him from the tour by threatening to pull his shows at Gillette otherwise, and encouraging other venue owners to do the same.“Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting,” Macklemore’s statement continued.

“A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth.That is what this has always been about.”In a statement to NBC News, Kraft confirmed he was involved in kicking Macklemore off the tour.

“Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply hurtful offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line,” he wrote.Sheeran detailed his own version of events in his own statement, claiming that the choice to kick Macklemore off the tour “was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine.” He wrote: “I am not complicit.I have my personal views on this devastating conflict.

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