Macklemore claims LA arenas rejected 'Free Palestine' benefit tour: 'Trying to silence us'

LOS ANGELES - Grammy Award-winning rapper Macklemore is claiming several U.S. venues, including those in the Los Angeles area, declined to host his "Free Palestine" benefit tour.

What we know:

The rapper, born Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, issued his side of the story on Instagram Friday with a caption that read, "Trying to silence us will only make the message louder."

"From the beginning, our plan was to bring this tour home to the U.S. But after weeks of reaching out, nine major American arenas have turned us down," he wrote in a carousel post.

Intuit Dome, Kia Forum, and Crypto.com Arena were listed among the nine venues, as well as Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center in New York, and Chase Center in San Francisco.

"By mid-September, we received available dates at these arenas through the end of the year. But once they found out these were my benefit show for Palestine, those dates were suddenly off the table," he wrote.

The backstory:

The 43-year-old performer launched the benefit tour after he was removed as an opening act for Ed Sheeran following criticism from his "Free Palestine" messaging during his opening act at MetLife Stadium in early September.

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Sheeran later addressed Macklemore’s removal from his U.S. tour, saying the rapper’s departure was ultimately a decision made by the concert promoter and venues, not by Sheeran.

The other side:

FOX 11 has reached out to the LA venues for comment. 

"We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability and he’s not an arena level act," a spokesperson for MSG Entertainment said in a statement to FOX 11.