{"id":3960,"date":"2026-11-07T10:04:34","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T05:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3960"},"modified":"2026-11-07T10:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T05:04:34","slug":"macklemore-says-us-venues-rejected-his-free-palestine-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3960","title":{"rendered":"Macklemore says US venues rejected his Free Palestine tour"},"content":{"rendered":"
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American rapper Macklemore, an outspoken critic of \u200cIsrael\u2019s war in Gaza, said on Friday that major US concert venues, including New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden, refused to book his Free Palestine tour that just concluded three dates in Europe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cThrift \u200bShop\u201d performer launched the effort after he was removed as the opening \u200bact on musician Ed Sheeran\u2019s concert tour in August. Macklemore said \u2060at the time that stadium owners had objected to him saying \u201cFree Palestine\u201d on \u200bstage.<\/p>\n

Since then, nine US venues declined to allow him to book available dates through \u200bthe end of the year, Macklemore said on social media. The venues included Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shows were not going to be allowed to happen \u200bin these venues,\u201d he said in a post. \u201cIn over 20 years of touring, I\u2019ve \u200bnever experienced anything like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for MSG Entertainment, which operates Madison Square Garden and other \u200cvenues, \u2060said its properties are among \u201cthe busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability\u201d and that Macklemore is \u201cnot an arena-level act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representatives for the Kia Forum did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Macklemore played Free Palestine shows in Dublin<\/a>, Paris and London to \u200braise funds for \u200borganisations that support \u2060the Palestinian people. The musician said he would work with other artists and organisers to do more performances for the cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe \u200blive in a country that prides itself on freedom of speech,\u201d \u200bhe wrote. \u201cYet \u2060we\u2019ve reached a point where a handful of billionaires can decide which causes are acceptable, which voices are welcome and which human lives are worth defending.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palestinian authorities say \u2060more than \u200b74,000 people have been killed in Israel\u2019s assault on \u200bGaza<\/a>, launched after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israeli officials \u200bsay the action is justified as self-defence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American rapper Macklemore, an outspoken critic of \u200cIsrael\u2019s war in Gaza, said on Friday that major US concert venues, including New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden, refused to book his Free Palestine tour that just concluded three dates in Europe. The \u201cThrift \u200bShop\u201d performer launched the effort after he was removed as the opening \u200bact on musician Ed Sheeran\u2019s concert tour in August. Macklemore said \u2060at the time that stadium owners had objected to him saying \u201cFree Palestine\u201d on \u200bstage. Since then, nine US venues declined to allow him to book…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}