Macklemore has released a statement after leading a “F— America” chant at the Palestine Will Live Forever festival in Seattle over the weekend.

Macklemore performed his new song “Hind’s Hall 2” at the event, the follow-up to his May song of the same name, with proceeds going to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which provides aid to Palestinian refugees. “Speak up, I’m not going to stop you,” he told the crowd in a fan video from the show. “I’m not going to stop you… yeah, screw America.”

On Tuesday (September 24), the rapper was removed from the line-up of the Neon City Festival in Las Vegas.

In his statement released on Wednesday, Macklemore explained his state of mind ahead of the performance. “I don’t always express my thoughts and feelings perfectly or politely. Sometimes I slip up and get caught up in the situation. Saturday night was one of those moments,” he began his lengthy statement, which he posted on social media.

“Unfortunately, the historic event in my hometown that brought thousands of people together to raise awareness and money for the Palestinian people has been overshadowed by two words,” he continued, noting that he has not been “well” in the months since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out. “I just can’t believe the way our government is behaving at this historic moment. I don’t think I’m alone,” he wrote. “Some days I don’t know how to love something that causes so much pain to others. I don’t think I’m alone.”

He continued: “Some days I wake up and see another few billion dollars given to Israel, or another refugee camp destroyed, or another father holding a body part of his tortured child, or another politician giving a speech justifying Israel’s right to ‘defend’ itself while denying the Palestinians the right to exist, and I say to myself, ‘Fuck America.’ I don’t think I’m alone in this.”

Macklemore concluded his statement by saying, “I have failed before the eyes of the world. I am sure I will again. But they will not silence my voice and they will not shut my heart. I have lost support, I have lost shows, I have lost business relationships. I am still here, steadfastly supporting a free Palestine. I care too much about humanity and this Earth to turn back now. My purpose always comes back to the pursuit of peace, love, equality and liberation for all. And that is not radical, it is human. I do not believe I am alone.”

Read Macklemore’s powerful statement in full below.