Earlier this month, billionaire Robert Kraft allegedly had the rapper Macklemore removed as an opening act on singer Ed Sheeran’s tour.
Kraft, who owns the National Football League’s (NFL) New England Patriots, Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution, and Gillette Stadium, where the Sheeran concert will take place later this week, objected to comments Macklemore made on stage during Sheeran’s September 4th show at MetLife Stadium.
“The truth is, a big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I can stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine,” Macklemore told the crowd, while introducing his song “Hind’s Hall,” which celebrates Columbia University’s student protesters. “I want those words to be loud and clear so the people all the way in Gaza, to the occupied West Bank, know that we have not forgotten about them.”
Kraft, who is Jewish, claimed that Macklemore’s words crossed the line into “hate speech” and accused him of having a “broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.”
According to a statement from Macklemore, Sheeran told him that Kraft had reached out to other stadium owners, calling on them to blacklist the rapper.
“Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium,” said Macklemore. “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.”
Since then, multiple supporting acts have dropped off the tour in solidarity with Macklemore, Macklemore has pledged to donate $1 million to Palestinian relief efforts (inviting Kraft to do the same), and Sheeran has faced widespread backlash for his refusal to take a side on genocide.
The story has also shed light on Kraft’s longtime support for Israel and his close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In response to Macklemore’s challenge, Kraft claimed that he has “supported efforts that create opportunity for Palestinians,” but an Intercept report reveals that Kraft’s foundation has consistently donated to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, the United Democracy Project, the super PAC that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) uses to boost pro-Israel candidates in Democratic primaries, and pro-Israel organizations like the Middle East Media Research Institute.
In 2024, Kraft stopped sending financial contributions to his alma mater, Columbia University, after students erected the first Gaza Solidarity Encampment, claiming he was “no longer confident” that the school could protect Jewish students.
“It is my hope that Columbia and its leadership will stand up to this hate by ending these protests immediately and will work to earn back the respect and trust of many of us who have lost faith in the institution,” he declared.
In 2019, Kraft accepted the Genesis Prize, a $1 million award that Time Magazine has called “the Jewish Nobel,” at a ceremony in Israel. It was presented to him by Netanyahu, who told the audience that, “Israel does not have a more loyal friend than Robert Kraft.”
In his acceptance speech, Kraft pledged $20 million to establish the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, an organization that scours social media to target “antisemitism, BDS, and other efforts to delegitimize the state of Israel.”
Later that year, the Genesis Prize Foundation announced it was partnering with Kraft to launch a $1 million contest to combat the BDS movement. The competition “Speak Out Israel” distributed grants to nonprofits that portray Israel in a positive light.
“Israel is so special to me and my family,” said Kraft in a press release on the effort. “It’s where I took the love of my life on our honeymoon in 1963. Since then, I have sponsored dozens of missions and countless other trips for people to experience Israel for the first time. Spiritually, there is no place like it on earth. The more people learn about its history, its diverse culture and its innovation, the more we can do to change stereotypes and end antisemitism. That’s why Speak Out for Israel is so timely and important to Israel’s future.”
On his trip to accept the Genesis Prize, Kraft brought a group of former Patriots with him to Israel, including Drew Bledsoe, Ty Law, and Vince Wilfork.
Kraft has brought former and current NFL players on tours of Israel multiple times, including 2017, when Joe Montana, Jim Brown, Roger Staubach, and other football legends accompanied him to Jerusalem, where he opened his Kraft Sports Campus, which became the home stadium of the Israel Football League’s Jerusalem Lions. The delegation also visited an Israeli Air Force base during a stop organized by the Friends of the IDF. The organization posted a picture of the group in front of a military helicopter and said the players were showing their “support for the Israeli soldiers.”
In 2015, Kraft brought a delegation of 20 former NFL players (including John Hannah, Thurman Thomas, Curtis Martin, Andre Tippett, and Raymond Berry) to Israel, where they met with Netanyahu in his office and presented him with a football, a helmet, and a jersey bearing his name.
The meeting came during the home stretch of the Obama administration’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiations, which Netanyahu was actively trying to torpedo.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netanyahu told the players about the alleged dangers of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.
“Iran is one yard away from the goal line,” said Netanyahu. “If they get nukes, the preeminent terrorist regime of our day will be armed with nuclear weapons. That’s dangerous for the United States and for Israel and for the entire world. And our effort today is to make sure that we block them and push them back, that’s the ultimate contest and the ultimate challenge, and I hope it was advanced somewhat by this visit.”
“Israel is free, robust, pluralistic, divergent and rambunctious,” he added. “It’s the only place where people are really free, Jews, non-Jews, the only place where Muslims enjoy civic rights in the Middle East, where Christians are protected. To survive and thrive in this you have to be tough. I hope you go back to America to do one thing, tell the truth about Israel.”
In 2006, Kraft brought Tom Brady to Israel, where the former Patriots quarterback took target practice at an IDF infantry base.
“I was worried about the recoil,” Barry Shrage, close friend of the Kraft and former president of Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies Times of Israel. “We certainly didn’t need Brady hurting his throwing shoulder shooting a rifle.”
In response to the Macklemore outcry, Kraft has pledged to commit $2 million to “the region to fight this humanitarian crisis,” but its unclear what organizations he will ultimately donate to.
