Rapper Macklemore announces 'Free Palestine' tour after Ed Sheeran fallout

Rapper Macklemore is launching a "Free Palestine" tour, days after being dropped from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour following pro-Palestinian comments he made onstage earlier this month.

"So, as you all know, my schedule freed up a bit," he said upon announcing the tour on Thursday.

The American artist - whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty - said proceeds from the tour, which launches in Dublin next month, will go to organisations supporting Palestinians.

Macklemore's onstage comments and subsequent removal from the tour led Sheeran's support acts to drop out, while the British singer stressed that the decision to drop the rapper was made by his promoter, not by himself.

Everything we know about the Ed Sheeran and Macklemore controversy

In a statement on Thursday, the rapper said that the last couple of weeks had shown him there had 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," he said. "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."

Macklemore said he had spent the last week contacting artists who had used their platforms to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, regardless of the consequences.