Macklemore says he was pulled from Ed Sheeran’s tour after the billionaire owner of the Patriots pressured Sheeran to drop him. The Seattle rapper shared the claim on Instagram, saying Robert Kraft called Sheeran ahead of a show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and told him Macklemore could not perform there.
“Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium,” Macklemore wrote. “Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”
Kraft’s Statement Confirms the Decision
Kraft confirmed in his own statement that he barred Macklemore from performing at Gillette. He said the decision was based on the rapper’s “recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.”
Kraft did not address the claim that he also “rallied” other stadium owners to pressure Sheeran. The promoter Messina Touring Group, which runs the U.S. leg of the tour, separately said it had been told by venues that they would not host concerts with Macklemore on the lineup, which would cancel the tour and affect hundreds of thousands of fans.
Reps for Sheeran did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
What Happened at MetLife
The uproar began in early September when Macklemore joined Sheeran’s trek for two shows at MetLife Stadium outside New York City. At the first gig, Macklemore yelled “Free Palestine,” expressed solidarity with people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, showed images from the devastation in Gaza, and performed his protest song “Hind’s Hall” about pro-Palestine demonstrators at Columbia University.
Pro-Israel groups responded strongly. The Israeli American Council launched a petition demanding Sheeran remove Macklemore from the rest of the tour. Kraft, who is Jewish, is a strong supporter of Israel and has donated millions of dollars to Jewish causes over the years while organizing trips to Israel with current and former NFL players.
In 2019, Kraft founded the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. In 2025, he launched the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, meant to “inspire Americans to stand up to Jewish hate and all hate.” The Blue Square Alliance website and Instagram feature a photo of Sheeran with a blue square pinned to his guitar strap.
The Friendship That Broke Down
In his statement, Macklemore called Sheeran a “friend” and described the “difficult conversations” they’ve had over the past week as “rooted in love and respect for one another that still end in a place of fundamental disagreement.” He said his statement was not written “out of spite or because I want to tear down his character.”
“But as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened,” Macklemore wrote.
He said Sheeran was “in a fucked-up position,” whose “typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before.” Macklemore told Sheeran that the words “Free Palestine” and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. In response, Macklemore said, “If those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood.”
“There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed,” Macklemore argued. “When one side has the bombs and bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle.”
Why the Word Matters
Macklemore pushed back against the argument that supporting Palestinians and criticizing Israel is antisemitic. “Antisemitism is real,” he wrote. “And that is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state.”
“When criticizing Israel, opposing Zionism or saying ‘Free Palestine’ gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn’t protect Jewish people,” he said. “It protects Israel from accountability.”
He also insisted neither he nor Sheeran was a victim in this situation. His desire to keep the focus on the Palestinian people “who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence,” he said.
The Cost of Speaking Out
Macklemore argued there were financial and professional costs for speaking out in support of Palestinians. But he rejected the idea that staying silent was the better path.
“An entire people being displaced, starved and killed while the world debates which words we are allowed to use to describe it, how those words make us feel, and whether our discomfort matters more than the people living through a genocide,” he wrote.
Humanitarian groups and a United Nations commission have said Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide. Israel and its allies, including the United States, have denied this.
Of being dropped from the tour, Macklemore said, “I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say. Free Palestine. But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation away from the people who are actually suffering, then the price was worth paying.”
A Troubling Precedent
The story raises a question that cuts across music, sports and politics: who gets to decide what speech is allowed in a stadium? The reported pressure campaign involved Kraft rallying other stadium owners, a scale that makes this case unusual.
Messina’s statement did not name Kraft or any other venue or owner. Kraft’s own account pointed only to his own decision and the material shared from the stage in New Jersey.
The pattern is familiar to anyone who follows culture wars: a performer says something controversial, pressure mounts, and the next day the tour changes shape.
The Verdict on What Happened
Macklemore’s version of events is backed by Messina’s statement and Kraft’s own confirmation that he made the decision. Messina’s statement did not name Kraft or any other venue owner.
Sheeran’s reps have not commented publicly on the pressure campaign. Whether the other stadium owners rallied behind Kraft, as Macklemore claims, remains unverified.
The rapper’s own framing matters too. He did not present himself as a victim. He framed the fight as a matter of principle, not personal grievance.
“Free Palestine. But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation away from the people who are actually suffering, then the price was worth paying.”
That is a powerful statement from someone who just lost a major tour slot. It suggests the decision was not about money or fame but about holding a position.
For now, the story belongs to the rapper who refused to back down, even when the stadium doors closed behind him.
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