Kraft Barred Macklemore From Gillette as Promoter Warned Tour Could Be Canceled

Robert Kraft said Macklemore would not perform at Gillette Stadium during Ed Sheeran’s scheduled September 25 and 26 shows. Variety and CBS News Boston both reported Kraft’s statement about the venue’s decision, although the preserved record does not include the underlying contract or internal authorization.

Kraft said the decision followed Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Sheeran’s New Jersey shows, and what Kraft described as a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery. Those are Kraft’s stated grounds, and the supplied reporting does not independently adjudicate whether Macklemore’s conduct met that description.

Kraft also said the decision was not intended to diminish Palestinian suffering or deny anyone the right to advocate for Palestinians. The Los Angeles Times reported that Macklemore had rallied audiences to say “Free Palestine” and performed “Hind’s Hall” at a New Jersey show. Gen Us’s judgment is that excluding an artist after that public advocacy, while saying Palestinian advocacy itself was not being denied, amounts to a cultural double standard.

Messina Touring Group said venues on upcoming U.S. tour dates had notified the promoter that they would not allow a concert with Macklemore on the lineup. The promoter said retaining him would result in cancellation of the tour and affect hundreds of thousands of fans. After discussions with stakeholders, Messina said Macklemore would not perform on the remaining support dates.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Sheeran’s team decided to remove Macklemore after the artists had “some difficult conversations” during the prior week. The preserved reporting does not provide a direct statement from Sheeran or his management explaining the private reasoning for that decision.

Macklemore said Sheeran told him that Kraft had called about the Gillette performances and said Macklemore would not be allowed to perform there. He also said Kraft had rallied other stadium owners and that they gave Sheeran an ultimatum over keeping Macklemore on the tour. That wider coordination claim remains attributed to Macklemore: the preserved record identifies no other owner, written ultimatum, or direct confirmation from those owners.

The record therefore shows private venue and tour decisions producing consequences for an artist’s access to major stadium audiences, without a government order or court ruling. That supports a conclusion about concentrated private cultural power, but the timing and sequence do not by themselves prove that the exclusion was imposed because Macklemore engaged in protected political expression. The sharper finding is a double standard in which Kraft defended the right to advocate for Palestinians while his venue excluded the artist publicly carrying that message.