Paloma Faith reveals fears over publicly supporting Palestine as she delivers powerful on-stage message
Paloma Faith made an admission on what she believes about children in Gaza during her support of the last leg of Macklemore's Free Palestine event after the rapper was dropped from Ed Sheeran's Loop tour.
The 'Thrift Shop' rapper made the shock announcement that he was planning to bring together artists from all over the world to spread their message about Palestine, which has been in a war with Israel for decades.
The first date occurred in Dublin on 26 October, and the second was in Paris on 29 October.
The third was held in London last night (30 October), which saw Faith, musician Nemahsis, and activist Greta Thunberg take to the stage for their respective moments.
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It was there that the mother-of-three opened up about being post-partum, and the realisation she had about her own children.
In a video posted to X, Faith can be seen wearing a dress similar to a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf as she told the crowd: "I stand here today, seven months postpartum, from having a baby - and I'm not going to lie - yes, some people have talked about it. Do you know what? Yes, it's scary to be in the public eye and to come out and say and stand up at these things."
She added that while it's a 'scary' thing to do, it's 'not as scary as what would happen if we didn't do it.'
She went on to talk about how her children helped her with her message, as she said: "I just thought, 'why are my children more important than the children in Gaza?'"
"They are not more important," Faith claimed, sharing that 'every child deserves to have their mother hold them in their arms and say it's going to be safe.'
The singer went on to say she had 'written a song that I wrote for my children and it's coming out on my new album' which is about her 'experiences on the marches for Free Palestine' and that the crowd will hear from others about their support of Palestine during the event.
The tour came about after Macklemore shared the announcement on Instagram on 24 September after controversy surrounding his exit from Sheeran's tour after having been dropped in light of his pro-Palestine sentiment onstage.
Macklemore announced on 14 September that he had been pulled from the remaining US dates of the Loop tour, however, Sheeran later said the tour promoter and venues made the decision, and not him.
Several of Sheeran's acts went on to withdraw from the tour after Macklemore’s departure, including Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe, and Irish group Beoga.
Macklemore's plan to create a tour off the back of the controversy saw him write online of his decision: "If these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it’s that something has shifted over the last three years. There has 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."
He said: "I’ve spent the last week reaching out to artists who have shown up and used their stages to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, regardless of the consequences. Artists who understand that our platforms mean very little if we’re only willing to use them when it’s safe.
"Because of how quickly all of this has come together, a lot of the conversations, schedules and details are still being worked out. But this is a moment of momentum, and there is work to be done.
"So we’re going on tour.
"FREE PALESTINE TOUR."
Britt Jones