Bill Maher Slams Macklemore, Says Calls to Label Gaza Conflict a Genocide by Celebrities Spark Rise in Antisemitism

Comedian Bill Maher chimed in on the ongoing Macklemore-Ed Sheeran-Israel-Palestine controversy and came out squarely against the "Thrift Shop" rapper, saying he is "fueling antisemitism" by accusing Israel of committing genocide.

"I think Macklemore spoke for all clueless celebrities when he said, ‘I know enough to know this is a genocide,’" Maher said during the September 11 edition of Real Time with Bill Maher. "Actually, you don't know s---. It's not. It's not a genocide. It's a counterattack in a war."

Macklemore was recently dropped as the opener from Sheeran's tour after coming out in support of Palestine and criticizing Israel during the tour's MetLife Stadium stop.

"A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine," he said while wearing a keffiyeh.

The decision to drop Macklemore has become a nightmare for Sheeran, as his backing band, Beoga, also dropped out amid the drama.

Maher said Macklemore and other Democrats who claimed Israel's actions in Gaza amount to a genocide were the cause of rising antisemitism.

"Because nowhere has this moral confusion become more obvious than in a place called Gaza," Maher sneered. "A little strip of land that was not part of the original Israel, but they won in a war launched against them, but then gave back, gave back as a peace gesture — did they tell you that part on TikTok, kids?"

"Gaza equals genocide is a lie, an easily disprovable lie," the 70-year-old pundit continued. "And the fact that so many prominent Democrats go along with it is, to me, the party's worst moment since they undid Reconstruction after the Civil War."

Macklemore and Democrats are not the only people calling Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide. The United Nations' Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has also ruled that Israel is committing genocide. The commission ruled that Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Amnesty International and the International Association of Genocide Scholars have also ruled that Israel is committing genocide.

"These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General.

But Maher says otherwise.

He went on to say that what he views as the mischaracterization of Israel's actions is what contributes to antisemitism in the United States.

"If you're one of the many people these days asking, ‘This explosion of antisemitism around the world that we see, where is it coming from?’" Maher said. "This. This is where it's coming from. Because if you really think someone is committing genocide, of course you have full permission to hate them. And history shows, for whatever reason, when it comes to hating the Jews, people don't need a lot of permission."