Macklemore is no longer performing at a big show in Las Vegas — and though the reason wasn’t announced, the cancelation comes after he stirred controversy during his set at a benefit concert for Palestine.
The Neon City Festival announced on Tuesday (September 24) that the Seattle rapper would no longer be performing at their November event “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
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But the announcement came just as Macklemore was starting to take heat for a particular caught-on-video moment of his performance at Palestine Will Live Forever — A Benefit Festival for Palestine, which took place just a few days prior in Seattle.
Cam Higby, a self-proclaimed “personality” for the conservative news site Today Is America (“The Pro-America Voice of Gen Z”), shared a short video of Macklemore during his set saying, “Fuck America.”
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Two Seattle sports teams in which Macklemore is an investor, the Seattle Kraken of the NHL and the Seattle Sounders FC of the MLS, issued a joint statement in response to the rapper’s comment, saying they were “evaluating our collective options” regarding their relationship with the “Thrift Shop” rapper.
“We believe that sports bring people together and unite us. We are aware of Macklemore’s increasingly divisive comments, and they do not reflect the values of our respective ownership groups, leagues, or organizations,” the statement said.
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Macklemore has been publicly pro-Palestine since shortly after the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas that began the current crisis.
He issued a long statement on Instagram on October 19, sharing his reflections on the then-new war between Israel and Hamas, and the associated humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
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He captioned the post: “Please read,” followed by a prayer hands emoji, a Palestinian flag, an Israeli flag, and a heart.
He began by expressing deep sympathy for Israelis captured and killed by Hamas in their surprise attack earlier that month, and their loved ones.
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“My heart deeply hurts for the Israelis that lost loved ones to such an abomination,” he wrote. “As a father I cannot imagine if one of my kids was at that festival [the Supernova music festival, attacked by Hamas], or was still missing after being kidnapped. It is absolutely unfathomable.”
After that, the rapper pivoted to the Israeli response to the attacks, which has now, almost a year after Macklemore’s initial post, killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to sources in the Palestinian health ministry. UN experts have decried Israel for cutting off food, fuel, water, electricity, and medicine to Gaza in the aftermath of the October 7 attack, and the International Court of Justice has said that it is “plausible” that Israel’s response is a genocidal.
“[K]illing humans as collective punishment is not the answer,” Macklemore continued. “That is why I am supporting the people around the world who are calling for a ceasefire.
“We are witnessing an unfolding genocide in Palestine at this very moment… Gaza is being demolished. Well over 1 million people have lost their homes… Innocent kids are being murdered as I’m typing this…. Israel isn’t allowing water, food and medicine into the open-air prison that is Gaza.”
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Since that post, Macklemore has released two songs about Palestine and the protest movement in its wake: “Hind’s Hall” back in May and a sequel earlier this month. “Hind’s Hall 2” features Anees, MC Abdul, and Amer Zahr, as well as the LA Palestinian Kids Choir, Lifted! Youth Gospel Choir and Tiffany Wilson and Friends.
