Robert Kraft, Ed Sheeran, and Why Macklemore Left the Tour
Robert Kraft confirmed he pushed for Macklemore to be dropped from Ed Sheeran's American tour. Kraft owns the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and said letting Macklemore perform at Gillette would cross a line. Gillette was one venue where Macklemore was due to appear as the opening act for Sheeran's US tour in late September. Kraft described Macklemore's recent performances as including a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery. Al Jazeera
Macklemore will no longer support the US leg of Sheeran's Loop tour. He said Sheeran and his team made the decision to remove him after pressure from stadium owners. In an Instagram post on September 14, he wrote: "Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium."
Macklemore claimed Sheeran told him Kraft rallied other stadium owners behind an ultimatum: "If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues." He alleged stadiums in Boston, Atlanta and Charlotte were among the venues whose owners objected to his remaining on the tour. The Guardian Kraft's public statement did not address the claim that he lobbied other stadium owners. Kraft confirmed he made the decision to bar Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium. Rolling Stone
Sheeran denies involvement. He said it was a decision taken by the venue and the promoter. Kraft said he is happy to sit down with Macklemore and talk in person.
The removal followed Macklemore's appearance opening a Sheeran show at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey with a speech about Palestine. In that speech Macklemore said: "free Palestine, free Lebanon, free Cuba to the Congo to Sudan to Iran." The Israeli-American Council started a petition to have Macklemore dropped from the tour after the speech. Macklemore defended his statements by saying "wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial." His song Hind's Hall is dedicated to Hind Rajab, the five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces while stranded inside a car in Gaza.
Kraft grew up in Massachusetts in an observant Orthodox Jewish household. Forbes estimates his wealth at more than $13bn. He funded the Stand Up to Jewish Hate campaign with more than $20m. He received the $1m Genesis Prize in 2019. At that ceremony, Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Israel does not have a more loyal friend than Robert Kraft." Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution in 2019 and appointed one of Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers to his legal team. The charges were dropped in 2020.
The broader context here is a dispute over where political speech ends and bigotry begins, and who gets to decide that boundary on a commercial tour. The accounts do not fully align. Macklemore points to coordinated pressure from several owners. Kraft has acknowledged only his intervention at Gillette, while Sheeran points to venue and promoter authority. For people who book artists and run venues, that process matters. A stadium owner can veto a single date, but coordination across cities would create a different risk for opening acts.
Looking at what this means for the tour itself, the short-term questions are contractual and logistical. With a late-September schedule, there is little room to re-route, replace support or renegotiate venue obligations. The longer question is precedent. Similar disputes over Israel, Palestine and antisemitism have already reshaped universities, media outlets and charities. Live music now faces the same test of procedure: what standard triggers removal, what evidence satisfies it, and whether the in-person talk Kraft offered becomes part of that process or comes after it.
