Macklemore may not be backing down from the backlash incited by his recent politically charged onstage speech, but that hasn’t stopped detractors from joining forces to attempt to silence him.
As previously reported, the GRAMMY winner (born Benjamin Haggerty) is currently on the receiving end of global pushback after making a public plea for justice for Palestine while opening for Ed Sheeran on the British hitmaker’s ‘Loop Tour.’
“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: ‘Free Palestine,’” Macklemore told the New Jersey crowd. “I said, ‘Free Palestine!’ I want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.”
The words evoked mixed reactions from attendees and online viewers, some of whom took to social media in droves to express their disappointment in the ‘Thrift Shop‘ star.
Among those turning their disapproval into action was the Israeli-American Council (IAC) – a pro-Israel organization which claims to represent more than 150,000 Israeli Americans.
In response to Haggerty’s onstage statement, the IAC launched a petition calling for the rapper to be removed from the remaining eight tour dates he’s slated to open for Sheeran.
“This was an Ed Sheeran concert – not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event,” the IAC’s petition states. “The issue is not whether Macklemore has the right to hold political views. The question is where the line should be drawn when an opening act uses a global concert platform to advance a one-sided political agenda. This becomes even more troubling when the message relies on selective imagery, biased messaging, and disputed claims presented to a massive audience as fact, without context or complexity.”
Ouch!
At writing, Ed has not made a public statement about the petittion or Macklemore’s future as his opener on the road.
Whats bias about asking to end the siege and occupation? If his views are one-sidede then so are IAC’s. The tides are changing
The only occupation is the arb mslm one.
Go back to arbia, get the f out of Africa Europe America Asia and the middle east you mfs. Arbs are from arbia.
ttrrists zombies
‘Receiving end of global pushback’…..I would say more like global praise with some predictable push back from biased organisations. That’s the correct framing.
The worst and dumbest thing to be in this world is mslmquer u mfs are the lowest of the low.
Macklemore 👏🏻 Pink 🤢🤮