MSG Calls Macklemore "Not an Arena Level Act" After Tour Claims

By Miles Carter, November 10, 2026

Madison Square Garden and Macklemore are trading public statements over his Free Palestine Tour. On Nov 6, 2026, the rapper said nine major U.S. arenas had turned the tour down, and a Garden spokesperson answered later that day, Billboard reported.

What Macklemore said

"From the beginning, our plan was to bring this tour home to the U.S," Macklemore wrote, according to Billboard. "But after weeks of reaching out, nine major American arenas have turned us down."

He named Madison Square Garden, Prudential Center, Barclays Center, UBS Arena, Intuit Dome, Kia Forum, Crypto.com Arena, Chase Center and Climate Pledge Arena. "By mid-September, we received available dates at these arenas through the end of the year," he wrote. "But once they found out these were my benefit shows for Palestine, those dates were suddenly off the table."

What the Garden said

"We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability and he's not an arena level act," the MSG spokesperson said in a statement to Billboard. Deadline reported the same statement. Billboard said it had reached out to Macklemore's reps for comment.

The arena record

The tour's first three shows were all in arenas: 3Arena in Dublin, Accor Arena in Paris and OVO Arena Wembley in London. Each sold out immediately, according to Macklemore, Billboard reported.

There is also a New York footnote. Billboard corrected its own story to note that a 2013 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis show it had placed at Madison Square Garden was actually at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, the smaller room in the same complex, not the arena.