Robert Kraft has responded to Macklemore’s call for him to match a $1 million donation supporting Palestinian people, announcing that he plans to commit $2 million to humanitarian efforts in the region.
Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, shared a statement on X on Wednesday afternoon following Macklemore’s announcement that he would donate his entire $1 million in net earnings from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organizations working to support Palestinians.
“I have dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people. I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting,” Kraft wrote.
Ed Sheeran contacted him earlier Wednesday and asked him to commit $2 million to match Macklemore’s donation. Kraft said he plans to make the contribution “to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis.”Kraft also said Sheeran intends to contact other venue owners as part of an effort to encourage further support.
“Ed has plans to reach out to other venue owners and our goal is to continue to work together to build bridges,” Kraft wrote.
The announcement comes after an increasingly public dispute surrounding Macklemore’s removal as an opening act from Sheeran’s Loop Tour. Macklemore had faced controversy over pro-Palestinian speeches during his performances, including calls for Palestinian freedom.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Macklemore would no longer open for Sheeran on the tour. The tour promoter said that some of the venues scheduled to host the concerts had threatened to withdraw if Macklemore remained part of the lineup.
Macklemore subsequently claimed that Kraft had played a role in the decision. The rapper alleged that Kraft had “rallied some of the other stadium owners” and that they had collectively given Sheeran an ultimatum that he would not be able to perform at their venues if Macklemore remained on the tour.
Sheeran’s Loop Tour was scheduled to perform at Kraft’s Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts on September 25 and 26.
Kraft defended his position at the time, saying that Gillette Stadium has a responsibility to maintain an environment that is welcoming to guests and does not provide a platform for hate speech.
“Based on Macklemore’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 wrote, explaining the decision to remove Macklemore from the Gillette Stadium shows.Macklemore has rejected the characterization of his advocacy, continuing to focus his public statements on the humanitarian situation facing Palestinians.
The dispute has also led other artists associated with Sheeran’s tour to step away. Finneas, Danish pop band Lukas Graham and Irish singer Aaron Rowe, who had been expected to perform as opening acts, have all since announced their departures in solidarity with Macklemore.Sheeran has separately clarified that the decision to remove Macklemore was not his.
“Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,” Sheeran said in a statement. “Macklemore’s contract for the tour was with the promoter, not me.”
Against that backdrop, Macklemore announced Wednesday that he would redirect the $1 million he earned from the Loop Tour toward humanitarian organizations supporting Palestinians.
“With everything that has happened over the last 48 hours, I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation, and still fighting for their freedom,” Macklemore wrote in a lengthy Instagram statement.
He said the full $1 million of his net earnings from the tour would be donated to six organizations working directly with Palestinians. He then specifically challenged Kraft to match his contribution.
“Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting,” Macklemore wrote, adding that he believes a Palestinian life is “no less valuable than another life on this earth.”
Macklemore also emphasized that he wanted the focus to move away from the dispute surrounding his tour appearance and toward Palestinians affected by the ongoing crisis.
“That is what this has always been about. Not me. Not a tour. Not the headlines or the controversy,” he wrote. “It is about Palestinians rights to freedom, dignity and safety in their own homeland.”
Kraft’s subsequent commitment goes beyond the $1 million Macklemore requested him to match. His planned $2 million contribution represents a further development in the dispute, while his statement also indicates that Sheeran and other venue owners could become involved in broader humanitarian fundraising efforts.The exchange marks a notable shift in the public conversation surrounding Macklemore’s removal from the Loop Tour, moving the focus from the controversy over his performances and the decision by venues to the humanitarian organizations and financial support at the center of his latest statement.
