Robert Kraft Confirms He Barred Macklemore From Ed Sheeran's Gillette Stadium Shows

Robert Kraft has confirmed that Macklemore was not welcome onstage when Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour reached Gillette Stadium.

The New England Patriots owner said he decided to bar the rapper from opening Sheeran’s two upcoming shows at the venue after Macklemore’s appearances at MetLife Stadium. Macklemore was subsequently dropped from the remainder of the tour.

At the first New Jersey show, Macklemore shouted “Free Palestine,” expressed solidarity with people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, displayed images of wartime devastation and performed “Hind’s Hall,” his song about pro-Palestinian Columbia University demonstrators.

“Macklemore has every right to say ‘Free Palestine,’ and Robert Kraft has every right to say, ‘Not in my stadium,’” said Stacy Stuart, co-founder of JewBelong. “That’s not censorship. That’s accountability.”

Stuart noted that artists “are not entitled to someone else’s stage, audience, or reputation.”

“When sponsors and owners believe a performer has crossed the line from political expression into outright hate, venues and promoters have a responsibility to assess the risk and act, including pulling the performer,” she said.

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of Clal, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, similarly framed the dispute around two parties exercising their own rights.

“Both Macklemore and Robert Kraft are within their rights — the former to speak out as he may choose, and the latter to not host him in his ‘home’,” Hirschfield said.

“Neither is a victim as Macklemore’s own tweets attest,” he added. “Sadly, he still plays the victim, and fails to appreciate what his friend Ed Sheeran told him — that this is about holding space that doesn’t cause others pain.”

Kraft said in a statement that Gillette Stadium is committed to providing a welcoming environment without offering “a platform for hate speech,” adding that Macklemore’s participation “would cross that line.”

“Only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only advances more divisiveness and hate,” he said, insisting that the decision was “not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf.”

He did not address Macklemore’s allegation that he pressured other venue owners to follow his lead.

“Antisemitism is real,” Macklemore wrote in a lengthy statement on social media.

“And that is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state,” he added. “When criticizing Israel, opposing Zionism or saying ‘Free Palestine’ gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn’t protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.”

Kraft said he would welcome a meeting with Macklemore, citing a shared goal of “peace for all people, an end to suffering, and an end to all hate.”