Humiliated Macklemore speaks out after Free Palestine tour pitch to California arenas: We will build our own stages

Macklemore is crying foul after claiming nine US arenas, including four in California, pulled the plug on his “Free Palestine” benefit tour.“We will build our own stages,” the defiant singer declared on Instagram.“They may own the arenas.

But they do not own the people who fill them.And they never will.”But Madison Square Garden offered a bruising explanation for the rejection, he’s simply not a big enough act.“We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability and he’s not an arena level act,” an MSG Entertainment spokesperson told TMZ.The cutting response challenged Macklemore’s claim that entertainment industry heavyweights were shutting him out over his Palestinian advocacy.The Grammy winner, born Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, alleged the venues initially offered potential concert dates, only to yank them after learning the shows would benefit Palestinians.“By mid-September, we received available dates at these arenas through the end of the year,” he wrote.

“But once they found out these were my benefit show for Palestine, those dates were suddenly off the table.”The California venues he named were Inglewood’s Intuit Dome and Kia Forum, downtown Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena and San Francisco’s Chase Center.Madison Square Garden and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center were also among the nine.His proposed American shows would have followed sold-out benefit performances in Dublin, Paris and London.

Macklemore responded to the alleged snubs with a lengthy broadside against billionaires, brand-conscious artists and an industry he accused of putting business relationships ahead of Palestinian lives.“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,” he wrote.The “Thrift Shop” rapper argued that wealthy gatekeepers wield too much control over which causes artis...