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Macklemore unknowingly welcomed a fugitive on stage at his recent headlining performance at the Lovestream Festival in Slovakia on Saturday (August 17).
The woman appeared to have forgotten she was wanted by police as she “boasted” about her concert appearance on social media. Her slip-up led to her eventual arrest.
In a Facebook post shared on the official Polícia Slovenskej Republiky page, authorities released a statement about the “curious situation.”
The translated statement read: “During the performance of one of the foreign interpreters, one of the audience was also selected to the stage, who sang with [Macklemore] and apparently enjoyed the joint performance with her idol.
“The woman immortalized this experience and boasted it on a social network, which did not escape the attention of an observant citizen, who at the same time follows the site of the MV SR. He recognized the woman and found out that he had just seen her on the above-mentioned website and informed the police immediately.”
“The police subsequently waited until the woman on the stage was [identified as an] adult and detained a 24-year-old woman from Bratislava, on whom the court was issued an order to impose imprisonment, which the young woman was avoiding. The woman was subsequently escorted to the premises of the institution for imprisonment.”
The post included a photo of Macklemore standing with his arm wrapped around the woman’s shoulders as she holds a microphone to her mouth.
Authorities did not disclose why the unnamed woman was being sought, but according to a Slovakian media site that found her profile on the wanted list she allegedly had an unpaid €800 fine in connection to a 2019 incident.
The “Thrift Shop” rapper was just one of the many mainstage headliners at the music festival. 50 Cent, Rita Ora, Chase & Status, and Tiësto were also among the featured artists.
In May, Macklemore, 41, stunned fans with the release of a blistering new protest track in support of Palestine, with musician Tom Morello.
Titled “Hind’s Hall,” the surprise song is inspired by the Pro-Palestine student protests and pays tribute to Hind Rajab, the six-year-old Palestinian child who was killed by an Israeli strike while she was waiting for aid.
The song samples “Ana La Habibi” by Fairuz, the popular Lebanese singer known for her vocal support of Palestine.
Days after its release, Macklemore performed it live for the first time in New Zealand.
“I stand here today and every day forward for the rest of my life in solidarity with the people of Palestine, with an open heart, in the belief that our collective liberation is at stake – that we all deserve freedom in this life of ours,” he told the crowd.
