Macklemore defends pro-Palestine remarks amid calls to drop him from tour

Macklemore has defended his pro-Palestine comments amid a petition to remove him as the opening act of Ed Sheeran's tour.

The Israeli-American Council has started a petition urging Sheeran to "remove Macklemore" from the remainder of his Loop Tour after he declared "free Palestine" and called for "safety and peace" during his set at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Friday.

Addressing the backlash, the Can't Hold Us hitmaker posted a video of a speech he gave the audience during Saturday's MetLife show on social media on Monday.

In the video, Macklemore insisted that his support for Palestine is "in no way a criticism" of Jewish people.

"To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you," he said. "My message is for peace; love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality."

He continued, "So I say free Palestine, I say free Lebanon, I say free Cuba, I say free Congo, free Sudan, I say free all people in America living in fear of this terrorist organisation, ICE. None of us will be free until we are all free."

The Thrift Shop singer captioned the post, "Wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial."

In its petition, the Israeli-American Council argued that Sheeran's concert was not a political rally or protest and accused Macklemore of using his opening set "to advance a one-sided political agenda".

His comments have received backlash from fellow musicians too.

Boy George, who recently released a pro-Israel song, wrote on X that the "Free Palestine" slogan offers "the appearance of moral courage without requiring much political knowledge".

Meanwhile, Pink shared a post from an antisemitism group on her Instagram Stories which accused Macklemore of ambushing Sheeran's fans with his "anti-Israel propaganda" and turning "a mainstream event into a political nightmare against the Jewish state".

The British singer-songwriter has yet to comment on the controversy.

Macklemore, real name Ben Haggerty, is currently scheduled to perform on the Loop Tour through to 7 November.