Wednesday, September 16, 2026 · Independent editorial

A free concert for Free Palestine

Dearborn’s mayor invited Macklemore to a free concert after the rapper’s anti-Israel rants. Openers on Ed Sheeran’s tour then quit rather than stay on a bill with him. Breitbart’s account is the source. A free stage is still a stage.

Alana Mastrangelo’s write-up says Hammoud posted on X Monday responding to Variety’s report that Macklemore had been booted after a “Free Palestine” tirade. “If they don’t want you performing in their stadiums, you’re always welcome in Dearborn,” the mayor wrote. “Come put on a show here. We’ll make it a free concert, sponsored by the City, and help make it one of the best around,” he added. “We stand with you and for a free Palestine. Let’s make it happen.” Macklemore had not responded as of Tuesday evening. While opening for Sheeran the keffiyeh-clad rapper told the crowd a big reason he did the tour was so he could stand in stadiums and say two words near and dear to his heart: Free Palestine. He then performed his 2024 song “Hind’s Hall,” which accuses Israel of “genocide” over its response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack while images of the Gaza war ran on the screens. Breitbart notes that song title was also the temporary name Columbia protesters gave Hamilton Hall during anti-Israel campus demonstrations and that Columbia later settled with the Trump administration over failure to stop antisemitism on campus after the mass murder of Jews in Israel by Hamas.

Breitbart’s Wednesday follow-up says Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe, and Beoga quit Sheeran’s Loop Tour after Macklemore’s drop. Sheeran said the promoter Messina Touring Group ended the contract and that venues communicated they would pull shows if Macklemore stayed. Robert Kraft of Gillette Stadium said the venue would “not provide a platform for hate speech.” Finneas posted that artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed and that he stands with Palestine. Beoga blamed “zionist lobbies.” Rowe wrote he cannot stand by and allow billionaires to silence voices speaking against “Israeli genocide.” That is the culture machine answering a massacre with a free concert and a guilt sermon.

Being a Christian in America this week is refusing to confuse a free concert with justice and remembering who started the war on October 7. Stand with Jewish neighbors. Do not confuse a midterm with the least of these.

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