Macklemore’s upcoming UK tour is set to benefit an organization whose British spokesperson described Hamas’s hostage-taking on Oct. 7, 2023, as “legitimate” and “effective,” according to a report published Friday by The Jewish Chronicle.
Proceeds from the rapper’s Oct. 30 performance at London’s 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena, which is operated by Live Nation, will go to several organizations, including the Palestine Youth Movement.
Jeanine Hourani, the Palestine Youth Movement’s UK spokesperson, previously defended the taking of hostages during the Oct. 7 attacks. The organization has also described the massacres as a “prison break.”
The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) cautioned that channeling funds to the Palestine Youth Movement through Macklemore’s tour could help legitimize violence against Jewish communities.
The JLC has called on Live Nation to disclose how it vetted the beneficiary organizations and to detail the safety measures in place to protect Jewish employees and concertgoers from antisemitic incitement.
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The dispute follows Macklemore’s removal as an opening act on Ed Sheeran’s US tour, a decision made weeks after the rapper performed twice at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in September. Macklemore’s legal name is Benjamin Haggerty.
At those performances, he declared “Free Palestine” from the stage and accused Israel of genocide and apartheid. Israel has strongly rejected those allegations, calling them libelous.
Messina Touring Group dropped Macklemore after several venue owners, including Jewish philanthropist Robert Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium, told promoters they would not allow him to remain on the lineup.
After the decision, the Israeli-American Council praised Macklemore’s removal, saying it spared audiences from the rapper’s “antisemitic rants.” In comments to JNS, the group said: “The rapper may have a First Amendment right to traffic in Jew-hatred, but he does not have the right to peddle his poison on stage in front of tens of thousands of concertgoers.”
Macklemore responded to his departure from the US tour by announcing a headlining series titled the “Macklemore & Friends — Free Palestine Tour.”