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In over twenty years of touring, I\u2019ve never experienced anything like this.<\/em><\/p>\n But this is not an isolated incident. For decades, activists, poets, writers, musicians and entertainers who have stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people have faced consequences for doing so. Many have paid a far greater price than I have.<\/em><\/p>\n Looking back over the last three years, the only real regret I have is not speaking publicly when Zionists were kicking me under the table. At the time, I didn\u2019t believe that centering what was happening to me was worth taking any attention away from the genocide in Palestine.<\/em><\/p>\n But the intimidation, manipulation and suppression I experienced are part of how those in power keep entertainers quiet. It\u2019s their main tactic to keep us in line. Shut up and dribble, or you will be punished.<\/em><\/p>\n But at this point, I\u2019m three years past giving two shits about maintaining any relationships, business or personal, with anyone that isn\u2019t riding for a Free Palestine.<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019d rather lose every opportunity in this industry than spend another day protecting people who value their business relationships with Israel more than they value Palestinian human life.<\/em><\/p>\n We live in a country that prides itself on freedom of speech. Yet we\u2019ve reached a point where a handful of billionaires can decide which causes are acceptable, which voices are welcome and which human lives are worth defending.<\/em><\/p>\n Today it\u2019s Palestine. What will it be tomorrow?<\/em><\/p>\n To these owners, the words Free Palestine represent a threat. Not because they endanger anyone, but because those words challenge the systems of power they have built their fortunes on.<\/em><\/p>\n The tides are turning. Just three nights ago, Abdul El-Sayed won his Senate race on a platform that included ending the genocide in Gaza and stopping U.S. arms sales to Israel. AIPAC spent $42 million trying to defeat him. And they still. couldn\u2019t win.<\/em><\/p>\n The trouble with buying power is believing you\u2019ve bought the people too.<\/em><\/p>\n The billionaires depend on our silence and complicity. They forget that we buy their tickets. We fill their arenas. We build their empires. And we have the power to bring them down.<\/em><\/p>\n The people have spoken. We want an end to the genocide and we want a Free Palestine. The arenas have made their decision. Now we\u2019ll make ours. If they think the threat of never playing another arena in America will make me retreat into silence, they got me fucked up.<\/em><\/p>\n There will be more shows for Palestine. We\u2019ll keep working with other artists and organizers, continuing where we left off in Europe. We\u2019ll probably just take that shit outside where it belonged in the first place.<\/em><\/p>\n Our commitment to raising funds and standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people remains the same.<\/em><\/p>\n There comes a point when the world changes, not because those in power give us permission, but because the people stop asking for it.<\/em><\/p>\n We build out own stages.<\/em><\/p>\n