Macklemore is taking another political stand, just months after releasing a song strongly in favor of Palestinian liberation.
On Saturday (August 24), the rapper released a statement on Instagram saying that he was canceling an upcoming show scheduled for October 4 at Coca Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, because of what he called the “role” the country is playing “in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis” in Sudan.
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Macklemore specifically mentioned the UAE’s reported funding of the paramilitary Rapid Sudan Forces (RSF), which has been fighting the Sudanese Army. Sudan has claimed at the United Nations that the UAE is funding the RSF, and the international body has cited “credible” evidence to support those claims. The UAE denies it.
Open warfare between paramilitary forces and the Sudanese military began in the spring of 2023, and so far over 18,000 people have been killed and millions have fled their homes.
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“Over the last several months I’ve had a number of people reach out to me…asking me to cancel the show in solidarity with the people of Sudan and to boycott doing business in UAE for the role they are playing in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis in the region,” Macklemore wrote.
“The crisis in Sudan is catastrophic,” he continued. “…[A]dvocates, organizers, journalists, and officials repeatedly highlight the UAE’s role in funding the RSF as a major factor.
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“I know that this will probably jeopardize my future shows in the area, and I truly hate letting any of my fans down. I was really excited too. But until the UAE stops arming and funding the RSF I will not perform there.
“I have no judgment against other artists performing in the UAE. But I do ask the question to my peers scheduled to play in Dubai: If we used our platforms to mobilize collective liberation, what could we accomplish?”
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Elsewhere in the message, he reiterated the Palestinian support he showed in his song “Hind’s Hall.”
“[T]he plight of the Palestinian people has woken the world up,” he wrote.
“We have seen people around the world protesting in the millions, college encampments and widespread information through social media that has not only documented the last 10 months of genocide but the last 76 years of ethnic cleansing and occupation in Palestine.”
Check the full message below.
“Hind’s Hall” was released back in May in solidarity with nationwide demonstrations.
“The people they won’t leave/ What is threatening about divesting and wanting peace?/ The problem isn’t the protest, it’s what they’re protesting/ It goes against what our country is funding,” Macklemore spits over a video montage of law-enforcement officials uprooting pro-Palestine college encampments. “Block the barricade until Palestine is free/ When I was seven, I learnt a lesson from [Ice] Cube and Eazy-E/ What was it again? Oh yeah, fuck the police.”
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He continues: “Who gets the rights to defend and who gets the right of resistance/ Has always been about dollars and the color of your pigment/ But white supremacy is finally on blast, screaming ‘Free Palestine’ till they’re home at last.
“We see the lies in them, claiming it’s anti-Semitic to be anti-Zionist/ I’ve seen Jewish brothers and sisters out there and riding/ In solidarity and screaming ‘Free Palestine’ with ’em/ Organizing, unlearning and finally cutting ties with a state/ That’s got to rely on an apartheid system to uphold an occupying violent history been repeating for the last 75/ The Nakba never ended, the colonizer lied.”
