“F*** America!”
So went the chant led by rapper Macklemore at a pro-Palestinian Seattle concert on Saturday night. While the audience responded with glee, others, including Elon Musk, later condemned the “Thrift Store” artist’s anti-American rhetoric.
The jarring moment occurred as Macklemore — whose legal name is Ben Haggerty — performed at the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival at the Seward Park Amphitheater in Seattle, Washington.
‘It’s a genocide, absolutely, and it has been since 1948, and don’t get it twisted.’
According to the official Instagram page for the festival: “We resist when we fight, we resist when we educate, we resist when we organize. Our people living under the brutal occupation of the settler colonial project resist in every breath they take. Despite the pain and suffering, our people in Falasteen find a way to LIVE.”
Proceeds from the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival went to various groups providing aid to Palestinians, including the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Welcome to the terrordome
Last month, the United Nations admitted that 19 United Nations Relief and Works Agency staff have been accused of being involved in the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when roughly 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were taken to Gaza as hostages.
Nine of the accused were fired while the U.N. stated that “appropriate measures will be taken” for the remaining 10 employees.
During the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival, Macklemore admitted that he “didn’t know” much about the decades-long hostilities between Palestine and Israel until the terrorist attacks on Oct. 7.
Apt pupil
Regarding how he got involved in “the movement,” Macklemore told the audience at the festival, “October 7 happens, and I started paying attention. I started learning. I started listening. I start going back and learning the history.”
The rapper — who is best known for his 2012 song about shopping at a thrift store — proclaimed that the Israel-Hamas conflict “is actually not that complicated.” Macklemore then accused Israel of committing genocide.
“It’s a genocide, absolutely, and it has been since 1948, and don’t get it twisted,” Macklemore told the crowd.
Video shows Macklemore saying, “Straight up. Say it. I’m not gonna stop you. I’m not gonna stop you. Um, yeah, f*** America.” The crowd thunderously cheered the anti-American remark.
‘What a tool’
There were hundreds of online commentators slamming Macklemore for the disrespectful jibe, including Elon Musk, who said of the rapper, “What a tool.”
Others called for boycotts of Adidas and TaylorMade Golf — which have sponsorship deals with Haggerty.
The rapper performed his “Hind’s Hall” song at the festival.
The song praises anti-Israel protests that took place on college campuses. The song is named for the actions of pro-Palestinian activists who occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University and renamed the building “Hind’s Hall,” in honor of Hind Rajab, a young Palestinian girl who was killed in Gaza City during the Israel-Hamas War.
In the song, Haggerty pushes leftist tropes such as: “f*** the police” and a “system that was designed by white supremacy.”
The entertainer said all proceeds from the song go to the UNRWA.
Haggerty recently released “Hind’s Hall 2,” which is another anti-Israel anthem.
The chorus of the song states: “From the river to the sea. Palestine will be free.”
The “from the river to the sea” anti-Semitic phrase calls for the establishment of a Palestine state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea while completely eliminating the state of Israel.
The rapper warns Vice President Kamala Harris that she won’t win Michigan in the 2024 presidential election if she doesn’t “stop sending money and weapons” to Israel.
The song’s lyrics include: “Capitalism killing us that’s something we can’t afford.”
The 41-year-old rapper’s net worth is reportedly $25 million.
In August, Macklemore canceled an October concert in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates’ alleged role “in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis” in Sudan.
Macklemoron
In 2014, Macklemore wore a costume at a Seattle concert that some deemed anti-Semitic and “deeply offensive” because it appeared to be a caricature of a Jewish man.
Haggerty apologized by saying, “I wasn’t attempting to mimic any culture, nor resemble one. A ‘Jewish stereotype’ never crossed my mind.”
“There is no worse feeling than being misunderstood, especially when people are hurt or offended,” the “Same Love” rapper said at the time.
Macklemore claimed it was “surprising and disappointing” that photos of his “disguise were sensationalized leading to the immediate assertion that my costume was anti-Semitic.”
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Entertainment, Music, Hip hop, Palestine, Israel, Hamas, Antisemitism, Elon musk, From the river to the sea, Align