Rapper Macklemore said he will donate the entire $1 million he earned from singer Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to organisations supporting Palestinians, days after he was dropped from the tour over his pro-Palestinian stance.

Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, announced the donation on Instagram on Wednesday, saying the money would go to six organisations working directly to support Palestinians.

He also challenged pro-Israel billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, to match the donation. Kraft confirmed on Tuesday that he had barred Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts.

“Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting,” Macklemore wrote. “A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth.”

In a statement on Wednesday evening, Kraft said that Sheeran had called him before Macklemore issued the challenge and asked him to commit $2 million in humanitarian aid to the region.

Kraft said Sheeran now planned to approach other venue owners in an effort to raise additional funds.

“I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting,” Kraft said.

Macklemore’s announcement came as the fallout over his removal from Sheeran’s tour continued to grow.

Macklemore said on Monday that he had been dropped from the remaining US dates after using performances at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to speak in support of Palestinians.

All of the supporting acts for Sheeran’s upcoming US Loop Tour have since withdrawn in solidarity with Macklemore. Some of the Irish artists cited their country’s history of occupation when explaining their decision.

Sheeran has said the decision to remove Macklemore was ultimately made by the tour promoter, rather than by him.

Kraft later said he had opposed allowing Macklemore to perform at his venue, citing what he described as the rapper’s history of “antisemitic rhetoric and imagery”.

In a statement, Kraft said the decision to bar Macklemore was not intended to “diminish the suffering of innocent Palestinians”, but argued that advocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure Hamas’s responsibility.

In his latest statement, Macklemore said he wanted to shift attention away from himself and the controversy surrounding the tour.

“That is what this has always been about. Not me. Not a tour. Not the headlines or the controversy,” he wrote. “It is about Palestinians’ right to freedom, dignity and safety in their own homeland.”

He acknowledged that donating money carried far less risk than the work being done by people in Gaza and those organising in support of Palestinians.

“Writing a check is one of the least costly forms of solidarity available to me,” he wrote. “I am doing it because I can, and because these organisations are doing the work while much of the world debates it.”

He ended his statement by urging people to continue paying attention to the situation in Gaza.

“When the news cycle moves on, which it will, don’t move with it. Free Palestine.”