Israel-Gaza
Macklemore is once again criticizing the United States government, this time taking President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to task in a scorching new protest song titled “F–ked Up.”
In the track posted to his YouTube channel Wednesday (Feb. 12), the rapper weaves his way through verses connecting racial injustice in America to the twice-impeached POTUS’ administration, which now includes the Tesla billionaire. Macklemore also calls out the United States’ financial support of Israel throughout the country’s ongoing war against Hamas, a conflict that has killed at least 45,000 Palestinians between the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks — which left more than 1,200 Israelis dead and about 240 people taken hostage — and the temporary ceasefire the two sides reached in January.
“New era ushered, but white supremacy is still in charge/ Talking colonizing Gaza from the White House lawn/ But the people mobbing, and we ain’t backing off/ Finally see the oligarchy and the men that control us all,” the Washington native spits over a dark, intense beat. “Tax breaks for the elite and then they taxing y’all/ Killing Palestinian kids and we getting hit with the cost.”
Macklemore paired the song with a video compiling footage of American and Palestinian protestors, including a clip of the rogue dancer who waved a combination Palestine-Sudan flag during Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show Sunday (Feb. 9). It also shows numerous clips of Trump, Musk and fellow billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos corresponding with lyrics about rich men in power suppressing the American people.
One clip the music video repeatedly comes back to is of the X CEO doing a Nazi-like salute at one of Trump’s inauguration events in January. “They got us f–ked up,” Macklemore rages in the song’s chorus. “And Elon, we know exactly what that was, bruh.”
Billboard has reached out to reps for the White House, Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos for comment.
“F–ked Up” is just the latest protest song the hip-hop star — who has been vocal in both his support of Palestine and his disappointment in the U.S. government — has released in the past year. In May 2024, he ripped into then-president Joe Biden while advocating for Gaza on a track titled “Hind’s Hall,” the proceeds of which went to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s assistance and protection programs for Palestinian refugees. The following September, he dropped a sequel to the song with assists from Gazan rapper MC Abdul and Palestinian-American singer Anees, featuring the chant, “From the river to the sea/ Palestine will be free.” (The American Jewish Committee has deemed the phrase antisemitic.)
When Macklemore performed “Hind’s Hall 2” that month at Seattle’s Palestine Will Live Forever Festival, he also led the crowd in a “F–k America” chant, after which Las Vegas’ 2024 Neon City Festival dropped him from its lineup. Later, the “Thrift Shop” hitmaker said in a statement, “My thoughts and feelings are not always expressed perfectly or politely. Sometimes I slip up and get caught in the moment.”
“I’ve slipped in front of the world before,” he continued at the time. “I’m sure I’ll do it again. But they will not silence my voice, and they will not close my heart. I’ve lost endorsements, I’ve lost shows, I’ve lost business ties. I am still here, unwavering in my support for a Free Palestine.”
Radiohead‘s Jonny Greenwood posted a lengthy note on Tuesday (June 4) in response to renewed criticism for his long-running collaboration with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa after the pair played a show in Israel on May 26 in the midst of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Greenwood wrote that he’s playing festivals across Europe this summer with the band Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis, noting that people are asking him why.
The guitarist has been collaborating with Tassa and releasing music with him since 2008, saying that he thinks an artistic collaboration that combines Arab and Jewish musicians is “worthwhile… And one that reminds everyone that the Jewish cultural roots in countries like Iraq and Yemen go back for thousands of years.”
The letter posted on X came after the pair played a show at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv last week, where they performed songs from their 2023 album Jarak Qaribak (Your Neighbor Is Your Friend), which features collaborations with artists from Beirut, Cairo and Ramallah. After the gig, the Jewish Chronicle reported that the BDS movement threatened to boycott Radiohead.
The movement, whose initial stand for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, is a Palestinian-led effort to pressure Israel to withdraw from occupied territories and offer full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens while applying pressure to end investments in Israeli businesses and encourage sanctions against the Jewish state.
The BDS movement posted a message on Twitter after the show that read: “We call for peaceful, creative pressure on @radiohead to convincingly distance itself from this blatant complicity in the crime of crimes, or face grassroots measures.”
Greenwood reacted in his letter by noting that Tassa’s grandfather was one of the most famous Iraqi composers as part of the Al Kuwaity brothers, whose songs he said are still staples on Arab radio stations. “Others choose to believe this kind of project is unjustifiable, and are urging the silencing of this — or any — artistic effort made by Israeli Jews,” Greenwood wrote.
“But I can’t join that call: the silencing of Israeli filmmakers/musicians/dancers when their work tour abroad — especially when it’s at the urging of their fellow Western film makers/musicians/artists — feels unprogressive to me. Not least because it’s these people that are invariably the most progressive members of any society,” he continued.
The Tel Aviv show came after Greenwood was spotted at a protest in Israel calling for the release of the remaining 120 hostages being held by Hamas after the militant group’s murderous surprise Oct. 7 assault on Israel in which more than 1,200 Israeli men, women and children were murdered, sexually assaulted and attacked and more than 250 hostages were taken according to Israeli authorities. Israel launched a counter-attack aimed at eradicating Hamas that has now lasted eight months and resulted in the deaths of more than 36,000 Palestinians and injuries to more than 86,000 according to Palestinian authorities, as well as the destruction of much of the infrastructure in Gaza.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Greenwood is married to Israeli artist Sharona Katan, whose family lost a nephew who was called up to military service after the war began. Three days after Hamas’ attack, Greenwood tweeted, “Condolences to the families of the innocent concert goers, children and civilians of all ages murdered, raped or abducted in these massacres. It’s impossible not to despair.”
The Post reported that during the gig Tassa said, “there are musicians here, not politicians… music has always worked wonders, may we know better days and may everyone return safely.”
Greenwood wrote that he was grateful to be working with the many musicians he’s met while working on the collaborative project, “all of whom strike me as much braver — and taking far more of a principled risk — than those who are trying to shut us down, or who are now attempting to ascribe a sinister ulterior motivation to the band’s existence. There isn’t one: we are musicians honouring a shared culture, and I’ve been involved in this for nearly 20 years now.”
President Biden has been pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire proposal to end the war that has displaced more than a million Palestinians, with the U.S. commander in chief telling Time magazine this week that there is “every reason” for people to draw the conclusion that Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation as he faces calls for new elections. A number of artists have also urgently called for an immediate ceasefire, including Paramore, Dua Lipa and Renée Rapp.
Greenwood ended the note by stressing that no art is as “‘important’ as stopping all the death and suffering around us. How can it be? But doing nothing seems a worse option. And silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel doesn’t seem like any way to reach an understanding between the two sides of this apparently endless conflict.”
He said that the latter is why he’s making music with this band, welcoming listeners to disagree with or ignore what they’re doing. “But I hope you now understand what the true motivation is, and can react to the music without suspicion or hate,” he said.
See Greenwood’s full letter below.
As the crisis in Gaza continues to escalate in violence, Kehlani has taken to Instagram to call out their peers for not speaking up.
In a clip posted Monday, the “Distraction” singer shared contempt for her “highly f—ing platformed” peers in the music industry for not speaking out about the Israel-Hamas war. “And you can’t stop for a second and recognize that … nothing we do has a f—ing purpose without people and you can’t turn the f— around and reach back for people? You can’t speak? Disgusting,” she says in the clip.
Kehlani noted that they lost “any ounce of f—ing respect” for those who have not spoken up. “This is going to be in history books. … This is going to be something that is referenced for the rest of f—ing forever.”
“F— a lot of y’all too,” Kehlani concluded.
In the caption, the star expanded on their thoughts. “I don’t got it no more I just don’t I tried hella ways to cope & it doesn’t exist and that’s okay, nobody should know how to cope right now,” she wrote. “I tried to drop some music & get my mind back right, my focus back & the rage is just EXTREMELY prevalent. this sh– is f—ing me up BEEN f—ing me up it should be f—ing a lot of yall up but apparently it’s not???? what’s good yall??? we don’t sell out shows without A CROWD FULL OF PEOPLE. the songs don’t chart without PEOPLE. the trends don’t trend without PEOPLE. you don’t draw a line at beheaded babies or people burnt alive after 7 months of plenty of other atrocities ? idc about the roll out the formula the strategy the algorithm at this point i’m begging U TO BE PEOPLE. BE A F—IN HUMAN BEING.”
Kehlani’s post comes just a day after Israel launched a missile attack on Rafah, hitting an encampment of displaced Palestinians in the Tal As-Sultan, an area that Israel had reportedly set as a “safe zone.” The attack killed dozens of people and wounded at least 249 — many of whom were civilians, including women and children. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the civilians were “unintentionally” hit.
The attack took place soon after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop its Rafah military offensive. Israel’s ongoing attack on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 35,000 people since October, Reuters reports. The Gaza Health Ministry said on May 24 that more than 80,200 Palestinians have been injured in the offensive.
The Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking more than 250 as hostages. According to The Associated Press, about half of the hostages have been freed.
Watch Kehlani’s full message below.
Macklemore hasn’t been one to mince words in the past when speaking up for a cause he believes in. Now, the Seattle native is throwing his support behind Gaza and college student protests across America on the politically charged song “Hind’s Hall.”
The “Thrift Shop” rapper uploaded the fiery track to social media on Monday evening (May 6), and promised once the song makes it onto streaming services, all proceeds will go toward the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which offers assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees.
“Hind’s Hall” is the new name student protestors have given to the Columbia University residence Hamilton Hall, in tribute to six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed in Gaza.
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The jarring visual accompanying the track shows footage of police getting violent with students protesting at college campuses, as well as deadly explosions taking place in Gaza City.
Macklemore kicks off with a salute to N.W.A and the group’s explicit 1988 anti-police anthem. “When I was seven, I learned a lesson from Cube and Eazy-E/ What was it again? Oh yeah, f–k the police,” he raps.
The Billboard Hot 100-topping artist goes on to call out President Joe Biden and America’s diplomatic support for Israel while revealing he won’t be voting for the incumbent again this fall.
“Where does genocide land in your definition, huh/ Destroyin’ every college in Gaza and every mosque/ Pushin’ everyone into Rafah and droppin’ bombs/ The blood is on your hands, Biden, we can see it all/ And f–k no, I’m not votin’ for you in the fall,” Macklemore declares.
The 40-year-old rapper also challenges those equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, pointing out that he sees Jewish people standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people as well. “We see the lies in ’em/ Claimin’ it’s antisemitic to be anti-Zionist/ I’ve seen Jewish brothers and sisters out there and ridin’ in/ Solidarity and screamin’ Free Palestine with them,” he raps.
With the hip-hop world distracted by the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud, Macklemore wants to shift the focus to ceasefire talks rather than hearing what the 6 God has to say next. “What happened to the artist? What d’you got to say/ If I was on a label, you could drop me today/ I’d be fine with it ’cause the heart fed my page/ I want a ceasefire, f–k a response from Drake/ What you willin’ to risk? What you willin’ to give,” he asks.
More than 2,000 students have been arrested across the country in pro-Palestinian protests, according to The Guardian. More than 100 of those were booked by New York police officers during protests at Columbia University last week.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, many of whom remain in Gaza, according to The Associated Press. Israel and Hamas have been entrenched in a deadly war since that has decimated Gaza; more than 34,500 Palestinians have been killed, per the AP, and more than 1,700 people in Israel have been killed, per ABC News. Ceasefire talks involving the release of hostages remain ongoing.
Earlier in 2024, Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of being part of Hamas and helping coordinate the attacks against them; the organization immediately terminated or suspended the accused individuals, but lost much of its international funding as a result of the claims. Since then, an independent study concluded that no evidence was found connecting the UNRWA to the Oct. 7 attacks, according to NPR. Many nations have resumed funding to UNRWA since then.
Watch Macklemore’s “Hind’s Hall” visual below.
SZA is always going to make her voice heard. During her last of three shows at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, as a part of her long-running SOS Tour, the Grammy-winning “Kill Bill” singer threw vocal support behind the Palestinian people.
In fan-captured footage from the Tuesday (April 16) concert, she proclaims, “Free Palestine!” while holding what appears to be the Palestinian flag. As soon as SZA completed the phrase, the crowd cheered uproariously as the superstar continued her onstage banter.
SZA joins a growing list of musicians expressing their support for a free Palestine, including fellow Grammy nominees Kehlani, Macklemore and Kid Cudi. During the first weekend of the 2024 edition of Coachella, several artists shared similar sentiments. Headliner Tyler, the Creator donned a pin of the Palestinian flag during his performance, “On My Mama” singer Victoria Monét called to “stop the genocide” during her performance and Jerusalem-born, Gaza-raised Palestinian rapper Saint Levant paused his set to remind the crowd of the “brutal occupation” his people are currently facing.
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Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, a devastating war has been raging across Gaza and the West Bank, killing and injuring untold thousands of civilians.
The “Saturn” singer’s support of Palestine comes a few years after she opened up about her Muslim roots to Muslim Girl’s TikTok live series in commemoration of Muslim Women’s Day.
“For me, Islamophobia really kicked in fresh after 9/11. I am from a small suburban town where people have good intentions, but they’re inherently maybe closed-minded and it’s not their fault,” shared SZA, who grew up Muslim. “I think that it’s a privilege to exemplify modesty in its forms and in a closeness to God and to explore different avenues of connection with the human form, with yourself and others. And I feel like it’s very bizarre, sometimes, the general misconceptions that come and go about Islam. Violence has no connection whatsoever.”
Tuesday’s show marked the first of four mini-residencies that comprise the Australian leg of SZA’s SOS Tour. The “Snooze” singer is set for two nights at Brisbane’s Entertainment Center (April 19-20), three nights at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena (April 23-26) and three final nights at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena (April 29-May 2). SZA launched the tour back in Feb. 2023 in support of SOS — her sophomore studio album which won three Grammys, spent ten weeks atop the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits “Kill Bill” (No. 1), “Snooze” (No. 2), “Good Days” (No. 9), “I Hate U” (No. 7) and “Nobody Gets Me” (No. 10).
Watch the fan-captured footage of SZA shouting “Free Palestine” below.
Following calls for him to withdraw from and boycott the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest over Israel’s inclusion amid the ongoing war in Gaza, Olly Alexander explained why he will still be participating in the annual competition on Friday (March 29).
In a statement posted to his Instagram, Alexander responded to activist group Queers for Palestine, who wrote the singer an open letter asking him to withdraw from the contest. “I wholeheartedly support action being taken to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the return of all hostages and the safety and security of all civilians in Palestine and Israel,” he wrote. “I know some people will choose to boycott this year’s Eurovision and I understand and respect their decision.”
The “Dizzy” singer continued, saying that he took “a lot of time to deliberate” over the correct course of action, and decided that withdrawing from Eurovision “wouldn’t bring us any closer to our shared goal.” Alexander said he and a number of other contestants spoke and decided that “by taking part we can use our platform to come together and call for peace.”
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In its original open letter, Queers for Palestine applauded Alexander’s “vision of queer joy and abundance you’ve offered through your music, and share your belief in collective liberation for all,” then asked him to “heed the Palestinian call to withdraw from Eurovision … There can be no party with a state committing apartheid and genocide.”
Alexander also shared a statement from a collective of other Eurovision participants — signed by himself, Ireland’s Bambie Thug, Norway’s Gåte, Portugal’s Iolanda, San Marino’s Megara, Switzerland’s Nemo, Denmark’s Saba, Lithuania’s Silvester Belt and Finland’s Windows95Man — saying that they “stand in solidarity with the oppressed and communicate our heartfelt wish for peace, an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the safe return of all hostages.” They added that they felt “it is our duty to create and uphold this space, with a strong hope that it will inspire greater compassion and empathy.”
Queers for Palestine later responded to Alexander’s decision, saying that while they “welcome” responses from both the singer and his fellow contestants, they found both statements lacking. “When [Alexander et al] use that voice to downplay the genocide in Gaza by vaguely calling it a mere ‘situation,’ they misuse their power. When they choose to ignore the call for a boycott issued by the largest Palestinian coalition, in historic Palestine and in exile, they risk condescending to the people who are being occupied and massacred and are asking for our solidarity.”
This is not Alexander’s first time sharing his thoughts on the ongoing war in Gaza. Shortly before he was announced as a participant in Eurovision 2024, the singer signed an October 2023 open letter from LGBTQ activist group Voices4London calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and calling out Israel as an “apartheid regime.” After Alexander was announced as the U.K.’s representative for the annual contest, a source for the Conservative Party spoke to The Daily Telegraph to criticize the BBC for choosing the singer as a representative for the U.K., calling the decision “either a massive oversight or sheer brass neck from the BBC.”
Read both of Olly Alexander’s full statements below:
Scooter Braun called for popular artists “with much bigger platforms” to demand the release of the hostages that were taken by Hamas from an Israeli electronic music festival.
“Say something, ask for the hostages to come home,” Braun said in an Instagram video posted on Friday (Dec. 22). “Say that no music festival deserves this.” Hamas attacked the Supernova Sukkot Gathering on Oct. 7, killing more than 360 people and taking a number of hostages.
Braun is joined in the Instagram video by Rachel, the mother of a hostage named Hersh. (She is not identified by last name in the video, but her story matches that of Rachel Goldberg.) “The silence from the music industry has been so deafeningly palpable for us,” Rachel says. Later she adds, “I just hope that you will be brave enough to use your platform.”
Braun picks up on this theme. “I’m begging of my own industry to just post something,” he says. “These kids deserved our voices, and we as an industry have done it time and time again — we’ve given our voices.”
In 2017, Braun helped organize a major benefit concert for the victims of the terrorist attack that took place at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. Grande performed at the benefit along with Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, and others, raising more than $12 million. “There’s been so much negativity and such a lack of leadership when we’re looking to have hope,” Braun said at the time.
Read a transcript of Braun’s comments below.
Scooter Braun: I am here with Rachel, Hersh’s mom… Her son is now 76 days being held in Gaza. The last images she saw of him, he had his left arm blown off. He’s a lefty like she is. We just had an amazing conversation I’m going to share. I want to be clear this is not what I do. I find it insane that I’m the one standing here with her or that we’re the ones who had a conversation. There should be people with 100 million followers and much bigger platforms who do this for a living, who are artists, who are reporters, who should be giving her a platform. And privately, she told me she has reached out to so many people, but because of the nuance of the conflict, they don’t want to talk about this. I think every single one of us in our industry knows that if this was any other situation, any other country, we’d be losing our minds speaking of how a music festival is not an appropriate place for people to be shot in cold blood. For them to be blown up or shot as they’re running away or taken prisoner and hostage like her son for over 70 days.
Rachel: I did want to say that 364 young people were killed at the Nova Music Festival. And over 40 of them were taken hostage and are still being held. A lot of those kids were coming from all over the world. And I think that that’s getting lost in a larger picture of pain and confusion, because it is a really complicated neighborhood that we live in. But I think that the silence from the music industry has been so deafeningly palpable for us and for all of the people who have children who were either massacred or are missing. And I just hope that you will be brave enough to use your platform because you have to be able to look at yourself and know that you’re doing the right thing for those kids who died at that festival or those kids who are suffering terribly in captivity right now. And I hope that you have the courage to do that. And maybe what might surprise you is you’ll get more fans and you’ll get more credit in the wold that you’re part of.
Braun: This is not what either of us do. I’m a behind the camera guy and she’s a mom and a teacher. I’m begging of my own industry to just post something, say something, ask for the hostages to come home. Say that no music festival deserves this. These survivors I met last night, they started naming many of you artists and asking me, ‘Why have you said nothing? These are our heroes. What if this happened somewhere else?’ So I’m going to end this here. These kids deserved our voices, and we as an industry have done it time and time again — we’ve given our voices. This was one of our things. This was a music festival. Not asking for you talk about the Kibbutzim right now. I’m not asking for you to talk about the massacre. I’m not even asking you to talk about the conflict right now. This was ours. This was a music festival, a peaceful music festival. They deserve to hear our voices right now as an industry. And shame on us if we don’t do it.
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