Macklemore pledges $1m in tour earnings to Palestinian groups

Rapper Macklemore notes he will donate the entire $1m he earned from singer Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour to organisations supporting Palestinians, days after he was dropped from the tour over his backing for Palestine.

Key points

• Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, confirmed the donation on Instagram on Wednesday, saying the capital would go to six groups working directly to backing Palestinians.
• All of the supporting acts for Sheeran's upcoming US Loop Tour have now pulled out in solidarity with the rapper.
• "Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting, " Macklemore wrote.
• Kraft remarked Sheeran now planned to approach other venue owners in a bid to raise more capital.
• Macklemore's announcement comes as the fallout over his removal from Sheeran's tour continues to grow.

Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, confirmed the donation on Instagram on Wednesday, saying the capital would go to six groups working directly to backing Palestinians. He additionally called on pro-Israel billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, to match it after Kraft confirmed on Tuesday that he had barred Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium in the US state of Massachusetts.

"Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting, " Macklemore wrote. "A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth."

In an official note on Wednesday evening, Kraft remarked that before Macklemore issued the challenge, Sheeran had called and asked him to commit $2m in humanitarian aid to the region. Kraft remarked Sheeran now planned to approach other venue owners in a bid to raise more capital. "I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting, " Kraft remarked.

Macklemore's announcement comes as the fallout over his removal from Sheeran's tour continues to grow. Macklemore remarked on Monday that he was dropped from the remaining United States dates after using his performances at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to speak in backing of Palestinians.

All of the supporting acts for Sheeran's upcoming US Loop Tour have now pulled out in solidarity with the rapper. Some of the artists are Irish and pointed to their own country's history of occupation in explaining their decision to withdraw.

Sheeran has remarked the decision to remove Macklemore was ultimately produced not by him but by the tour promoter.

Kraft afterwards stated he had resisted allowing the rapper to perform, citing what he described as Macklemore's history of "antisemitic rhetoric and imagery".

Kraft, in an official note to Al Jazeera, remarked the decision to ban Macklemore from his venue wasn't concerning "diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians" but argued that "advocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure the responsibility of Hamas".

In his latest statement on Wednesday, Macklemore remarked he wanted to pull the conversation away from himself and the controversy surrounding the tour.

"That is what this has always been regarding. Not me. Not a tour. Not the headlines or the controversy, " he wrote. "It is about Palestinians' right to freedom, dignity and safety in their own homeland."

He additionally acknowledged that donating capital carried far less risk than the work being done by individuals in Gaza and those organising in backing of Palestinians.

"Writing a check is one of the least costly forms of solidarity available to me, " he wrote. "I am doing it because I can, and because these organizations are doing the work while much of the world debates it." He concluded with a call for residents to keep paying attention.

"When the news cycle moves on. It it will, don't move with it. Free Palestine."

Taken together, the developments around macklemore pledges $1m in tour earnings to Palestinian groups point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.