Zach Bryan Wore a 'Free Palestine' Shirt at Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium

He played it weeks after Kraft and other venue owners pushed Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore over the rapper's support for Palestinians.

Zach Bryan played Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium on Friday night in a "Free Palestine" shirt, weeks after Kraft helped push Macklemore off Ed Sheeran's tour.

Those were the words that cost Macklemore his spot. The rapper had made "Free Palestine" remarks onstage while opening for Sheeran, and Kraft and other venue owners then leaned on Sheeran over the rapper's support for Palestinians, Deadline reported, with Kraft gathering several of the tour's venues to hand him an ultimatum. Sheeran dropped Macklemore last month.

The Grammy winner was at the Kraft-owned stadium in Massachusetts for a stop on his With Heaven on Tour, Deadline reported. He's booked for a second night there on Saturday, and Kraft hasn't said whether that show goes on.

Bryan didn't do it alone. "Zach Bryan and his band wore 'Free Palestine shirts while performing at Gillette Stadium tonight," a fan posting as @scubaryan_ wrote on X, alongside a photo from the show.

Sheeran tried to stay out of it publicly, putting out a statement that pinned the cut on the promoter. The tour came apart anyway. The other openers, Finneas, Aaron Rowe and Lukas Graham, quit, and so did Beoga, the band that backs Sheeran onstage.

Macklemore, for his part, didn't wait for an apology from anyone. Last week he announced his own Free Palestine Tour, billed as "supporting the Palestinian people and movement," with dates from Oct. 26 to Oct. 30 in Dublin, Paris and London. He has since said it "sold out immediately."

Then the weather took what was left. Sheeran's own Gillette Stadium shows last weekend were canceled as a nor'easter bore down on Boston.

So the headliner who met Kraft's demand never played the building. The one who walked out in the shirt did.

Source: deadline.com, retrieved October 3, 2026.