Macklemore announces 'Free Palestine' tour after being dumped from Ed Sheeran shows

American rapper Macklemore, who was dropped as the opening act for Ed Sheeran over pro-Palestinian remarks, has announced he will headline his own "Free Palestine" concert tour that will start next month.The tour will begin in Dublin, Paris and London, the rapper said in an Instagram post on Thursday, local time.US dates and additional performers will be announced later, he said, adding that proceeds would be donated to organisations that support the Palestinian people."Being apolitical during a genocide doesn't work anymore," Macklemore said."People are asking artists to show up, educate themselves and be in community. To use the stage for more than entertainment. To push back when the call for a free Palestine is met with attempts to silence it."Israeli officials have strongly denied their actions in Gaza amount to genocide — despite being deemed so by a UN inquiry — and say they are justified as self-defence.The Grammy-winning rapper had been due to perform at eight additional Sheeran shows when he was removed last month from the tour following his remarks at a show in New Jersey."A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: 'Free Palestine,'" he said on stage.Macklemore said owners of stadiums where Sheeran was set to play had objected to those remarks.Sheeran, an English-born singer-songwriter and one of the world's top-selling recording artists, said the decision to dump Macklemore came from tour organisers, not him, and that he tried to find a resolution.Ed Sheeran has distanced himself from the Macklemore controversy, saying he was not behind the decision to drop the rapper. (Reuters: Kylie Cooper)He apologised for his handling of the situation at a performance in Philadelphia and decried Israel's treatment of residents in Gaza as "unjustifiable".Macklemore has been an outspoken critic of Israel's assault on Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank."If these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it's that something has shifted over the last three years," Macklemore said on Thursday."There has been a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call, and what we expect from artists right now."What happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage."When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention."ABC/Reuters