What, Exactly, Did Macklemore Say and Do?

And how soon can we go back to not thinking about him?

Photo by Kristy Sparrow via Getty.

In 2012, the rapper Macklemore had a hit with “Thrift Shop”. As of 2013, I would have bet the ranch on “you will never think of the rapper Macklemore ever again” if betting markets had offered that option. I would have lost, though, because Macklemore is back in the news for getting dropped as Ed Sheeran’s opener, apparently for on-stage remarks about Palestine, and not because Ed Sheeran realized “Holy shit it’s 2026 and my opener is Macklemore.”

Though I would never infringe on Americans’ constitutional right to dive into a culture war fight without knowing a goddamned thing about what happened, I’d like to present the facts of the case. Here’s what Macklemore said on the second show of Sheeran’s tour — these remarks are part of the story.¹ I’m also going to transcribe what Macklemore said because watching this screed gave me a near-lethal case of the douche chills — reading what he said is slightly less bad.

“…why I wanted to come on this tour with my brother, my dear brother Ed Sheeran. One of the reasons was because I wanted to stand up here on stages in stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine. I said ‘Free Palestine’! I want those words to be loud and clear so the people from Gaza all the way to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten. And this next song was inspired by the bravery of Columbia University students who led an encampment movement that mobilized the entire world, opened up hearts — myself included — that’s what inspired this next song. So thank you to those students that risked their diplomas, that risked their tuition, that risked their scholarships, that stood up and said ‘no’! CUAD students, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voices for Peace — thank you guys. And I want to say this before I get into the song, I want to say this: 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. My message is for peace, love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality. So I say free Palestine, free Lebanon, I say free Cuba, free Congo, free Sudan, free all people in America living in fear of this terrorist organization ICE! None of us will be free until we are all free.”

Before I get to the controversial parts of the statement, I want to address the funny part. Free Sudan? From who? The fighting in Sudan is an internal conflict. As for the Democratic Republic of Congo, the fighting there is not like the war that tore the country apart in the ‘90s/’2000s, and I’m guessing that most Congolese would rather be known for their historic World Cup run than as a people who need to be freed from…well I don’t know…Botswana, maybe? What I think happened is that once Macklemore listed Palestine, Lebanon, and Cuba, something in his brain went “Whuh-oh, this is getting hot,” so he threw in some other countries as rhetorical bodyguards, guessing that the violence in those countries probably means that the people there need to be “freed” from somebody. He probably could have said “Free Uruguay! Free Saim!” and gotten the same response, because he was really coasting on vibes at that point.

Surely the most controversial part of Macklemore’s statement was name-checking CUAD (Columbia University Apartheid Divest) and Students for Justice in Palestine. Those groups hold extreme positions — I’ve written about them before, and so have people who actually know stuff. Things those groups have done include:

CUAD:

• After a CUAD member wrote that “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” CUAD apologized, then retracted the apology and said “We support liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance.”

• Posted on Instagram that “our Intifada is an internationalist one” and that they seek “the total eradication of Western civilization.”

• Tweeted “death to America” in Persian.

• Issued a statement saying that Israel had occupied Palestine for 75 years, which dates to 1948, which means that they view the very founding of Israel to be illegitimate.

• Hosted an event featuring activists Charlotte Kates and Khaled Barakat. At the event, Kates called October 7 “a necessary action” and said “There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas.” Barakat called hijacking airplanes “an important tactic” and spoke of his “friends and brothers in Hamas [and] Islamic Jihad.”

Students for Justice in Palestine:

• Issued a ”Day of Resistance Toolkit” on October 12, 2023 that praised the actions of the Hamas “martyrs” on October 7 and encourage people to join “the resistance” because “total return and liberation to Palestine is near.”

• Hosted a Zoom event about how to “shut up” pro-Israel professors.

• Posted content on their Telegram channel that praised a terrorist convicted of plotting to plant a bomb in a movie theater, featured an interview with a Hamas fighter, and displayed this helpful who’s-who:

Macklemore’s remarks landed differently than they might have because of photos from 2014 that recently gained new life on social media. In 2014, Macklemore held a “secret” concert in his hometown of Seattle. Keeping with the secrecy theme, he did the concert in disguise, and the disguise…well, a picture’s worth a thousand words:

Macklemore apologized and said that the didn’t realize that the costume could be seen as a Jewish caricature. On his web site, he wrote "it was absolutely not my intention and unfortunately at the time I did not foresee the costume to be viewed in such regard,” adding "I respect all cultures and all people." He said that the nose was a “witch nose” that he bought at a costume shop. I googled “costume witch nose”, and though most of the noses that came up were of the pointy-and-wart-y variety, one or two did seem to be from the Party City “Ghouls By Goebbels” Collection. My advice to costume companies would be to stop making that nose — that is only a “witch nose” in the way that a vibrating wand marketed to women is a “back massager”.

Following Macklemore’s remarks in New Jersey, Sheeran got a call from New England Patriots owner and hand job enthusiast Robert Kraft. Kraft informed Sheeran that Macklemore was not welcome to perform at Gillette Stadium, which Kraft owns. Kraft issued a statement that said in part:

Gillette Stadium has a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests and ensuring that events held at our venue do not provide a platform for hate speech. Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line.

So, Macklemore is out. A sad day for those who feel that nothing pairs with the sackless Brit-folk of Sheeran quite like the mush-mouthed laptop rap of Macklemore.

You’re free to stop reading here, but if you want my two cents, here it is: I don’t like this. Macklemore is very obviously an idiot — I listened to the song that follows the controversial intro, and it’s basically dumbass Rage Against the Machine lyrics without the music that made RATM good. The song also puts the “occupation” at 75 years, and I’m not convinced that a person’s problem is with “apartheid” or “genocide” when they see the very founding of Israel as illegitimate. But I’m also not comfortable with powerful venue owners throwing their weight around because they don’t like a guy’s politics. It’s one thing for someone to decide that Macklemore is too big of a douchebag to support — you don’t need to twist my arm to get me to not buy a ticket to this concert! And Kraft can book or not book anyone for any reason — his stadium, his rules. But I’ve long felt that we’re better off letting people say just about any intensely stupid thing that they believe. I didn’t like it when social media companies were aggressively in declaring things “hate speech”, and I don’t like Robert Kraft doing it now.

My belief that we should never give a fraction of a fuck about celebrities’ political opinions endures. Maybe one day, celebrities will realize that they do not need to use their platform to make a statement, since they’re vapid halfwits with nothing useful to say. But regardless, I’ll support their free speech rights. I might not like what they have to say, and I may think the music in which they said it is unlistenable cow shit that feels like jamming an ice pick in my ear, but I’ll defend their right to say it.

---

1. And no, I couldn’t find it without the “Macklemore spews anti-Israel propaganda” text. The video comes from an Instagram account called “stop_antisemitism”.