Macklemore has launched his Free Palestine Tour, and he isn’t doing it alone. At the first night of the trek in Dublin on Monday (Oct. 26), Mark Ruffalo, Julian Casablancas and more stars dropped by both in person and virtually to share a few remarks on the cause.
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In footage captured at the charity event at 3Arena, the Marvel star appeared in a pre-filmed video that played on the big screens before the “Thrift Shop” artist took the stage. “Hey, Macklemore!” Ruffalo said as the crowd, realizing who was speaking, started cheering loudly. “Keep fighting for a free Palestine. There will be no peace until there’s equality … Keep fighting the great fight.”
The Strokes frontman also addressed the arena in a video thanking Macklemore for using his voice for change. “Take care of each other and the innocents, and continue standing up in this struggle towards a just world system,” Casablancas said, according to Variety.
“We are all together in this fight to help free Palestine,” said Ilana Glazer, who also sent in a video message. “Keep speaking up and using your voice, it’s working.”
Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon and White Lotus alum Natasha Rothwell shared virtual remarks as well, while Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham, activist Nadia Greenspan and artist-activist Samir Eskanda were there in person to make speeches. “Enjoying tonight does not mean forgetting about the suffering in Gaza,” Cunningham told the crowd. “It means celebrating the humanity and life that Palestinians have fought so hard to protect.”
The show marked the first of three shows in the Free Palestine Tour, which Macklemore announced after his onstage protests against the Israeli government and what he and many others — including the United Nations — have labeled as a genocide in Gaza resulted in his dismissal from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour. (Israel and its allies, including the United States, deny that it is committing genocide.) His next two benefit performances will take place at arenas in Paris and London.
“Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore,” the rapper said when announcing the shows in September. “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.”
After the guest speakers in Dublin, Macklemore jumped on stage to perform some of his biggest hits, including Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits with Ryan Lewis, “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us.” He wasn’t the only musician to perform Monday night, with Irish acts Hozier, Kneecap and Beoga — the band that had accompanied Sheeran on his tour before dropping out in solidarity with Macklemore — also playing sets.