City’s Muslim Mayor Invites Rapper After He’s Booted from Stadium Tour Over Anti-Israel Rant
A recent controversy involves rapper Macklemore and his support for Palestine,which led to his removal from a planned tour in NFL stadiums owned by Patriots owner Robert Kraft,who supports Israel.Dearborn’s Mayor Abdullah Hammoud publicly invited Macklemore to perform a free concert in Dearborn, Michigan, a city with a large Arab and Muslim population, expressing solidarity with Palestine. Macklemore had previously shouted “free Palestine” during a concert and wore a keffiyeh while making an anti-Israel speech, advocating for Palestinian freedom. Kraft, a known supporter of Israel, responded by blocking Macklemore from performing in his venues, including at Gillette Stadium. The tour faced cancellations, with multiple opening acts dropping out in solidarity.The incident has sparked social media backlash, with many criticizing Hammoud’s invitation and the city’s support for Macklemore, highlighting tensions around the Israel-Palestine conflict and its influence on american politics and culture.
He might be a rapper too radical for the NFL — but he can get a date in Dearborn.
The Muslim mayor of one of the country’s most Muslim cities is rolling out the red carpet for an entertainer who’s been dropped from a national tour after running afoul of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Because nothing says “free concert” like “free Palestine.”
As the Detroit News reported, Dearborn, Michigan, Mayor Abdullah Hammoud extended an invitation Monday to the rapper Macklemore (nee Benjamin Hammond Haggerty), after the singer was targeted by Kraft for his pro-Palestinian positions.
Hey @macklemore, if they don’t want you performing in their stadiums, you’re always welcome in Dearborn.
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.
We stand with you and for a free Palestine.
Let’s… https://t.co/Y9NnJT8HGn
— Abdullah H. Hammoud (@AHammoudMI) September 15, 2026
During a Sept. 4 concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey (home field of the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets), Macklemore took the opportunity to shout “free Palestine,” Rolling Stone reported.
He then went on what the New York Post described as an “anti-Israel rant” — a description backed up by others — while sporting a keffiyeh, the international badge of the anti-Semite.
“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: ‘Free Palestine,’” he told his audience, according to the magazine.
“I said, ‘Free Palestine!’ I want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.”
Kraft, at any rate, heard them loud and clear.
The NFL owner is not only a justifiably famous Jew who makes no secret of his support for Israel. He’s also the CEO of The Kraft Group, which owns both the Patriots and the Patriots’ Gillette Stadium, and he made it loud and clear that Macklemore would not be welcome in the venue.
Macklemore was subsequently dropped as an act in the Loop Tour headlined by British music star Ed Sheeran, which has stops scheduled at Gilette Sept. 25 and 26.
In a lengthy Instagram post (lengthy, self-centered, and self-congratulatory), Macklemore claimed that Kraft had pressured other NFL stadiums to ban him as well.
According to Rolling Stone, Messina Touring Group, the promoter of the Loop Tour in the U.S., issued a statement that it had been “notified by venues on the upcoming U.S. tour dates that they will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans.”
“After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”
The magazine reported the tour stops that included Macklemore, besides Gillette Stadium, were in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Indianapolis, Indiana, Charlotte, North Carolina, Arlington, Texas, and Tampa, Florida.
But Dearborn would love to have him.
It’s not a surprise, really. Census data show Dearborn is more than half Arab by ethnicity, and, according to WDIV-TV in Detroit, locals claim that number could be as high as 70 percent. And while the Census doesn’t directly record religious beliefs, ethnicity in this case is a fair proxy for Islam.
And Islam, in this case, is a fair proxy for insanity. Cities like Dearborn (“America’s Jihad Capital,” as a 2024 Wall Street Journal column described it) and their voters are why Democrats are becoming increasingly unhinged when it comes to their current loathing to support a staunch American ally like Israel and their warped willingness to back the America-hating terrorists of Hamas.
They’re why non-Muslim Democrats in Michigan have a choice now between voting for a Republican and voting for a Muslim with ties to a man who’s arguably the most outspoken anti-Semite in contemporary American politics.
So if Dearborn’s mayor can see a chance to grab some national attention for both his home city and the “free Palestine” cause so dear to Western leftists, it seems perfectly obvious he’d grab it. (If Macklemore wasn’t exactly a headline name before — and he wasn’t — this “controversy” will give that a boost.)
Hammoud wants to make it a “free show,” of course, which means taxpayers would be footing the bill for the terrorist-supporting anti-Semitic circus, but that kind of spending would never bother a leftist.
Still, as the social media responses showed, the proposal might not be drawing the kind of attention he was looking for:
Talk about playing the stereotype. The Mayor of Dearborn welcoming the Antisemite? pic.twitter.com/7JWR6uOQPI
— Everything I Don’t Like is Genocide (@WordsMeanSmthng) September 15, 2026
Thanks for admitting that you allow antisemitic bigotry in your city
— Erika Esagholi (@Eroushkaa21) September 15, 2026
Yea he’ll be right at home in Dearborn with other terrorists supporters.
— Harrier Du Bois (@Fliptop980) September 15, 2026
The controversy has bled over to aspects of the tour. Four openers for Sheeran had dropped out of future shows by Tuesday, according to The Associated Press — to show solidarity with the terrorist supporting Macklemore.
Maybe Dearborn can invite them all, too.
Sounds like they’d fit right in.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."



