After being challenged by rapper Macklemore to match his $1 million to the Palestinian people, billionaire Robert Kraft has doubled the amount, saying he’ll “commit $2 million to match his donation to aid in the region and fight this humanitarian crisis.”
“I have dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people,” Kraft said in a statement on the X account of Gillette Stadium. “I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting.”
Kraft said he was contacted earlier today by “Ed” – apparently Ed Sheeran, who dropped Macklemore from his Loop Tour this week – and that “Ed now plans to reach out to other venue owners and our goal is to continue to work together to build bridges.” Kraft also reiterated what he said is his longstanding support of the Palestinian people.
Earlier today, Macklemore announced he’ll donate the $1 million in net earnings he made as the supporting act on Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to organizations that support the Palestinian people. And he challenged Kraft, the billionaire Gillette Stadium-New England Patriots owner who threatened a venue boycott against the tour, to match his donation.
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“With everything that has happened over the last 48 hours,” Macklemore wrote on Instagram today, “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. I will be donating the entire $1 million of my net earnings from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people. And I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation. Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting. A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth.”
Macklemore, Kraft and Sheeran made international headlines this week after Sheeran dropped Macklemore from the tour, later saying he was under pressure from promotors including Kraft to remove the rapper in response to a “Free Palestine” political speech delivered at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey earlier this month.
Kraft is an outspoken and generous supporter of pro-Israel causes. In a statement explaining his position in the Macklemore situation, he said Gillette Stadium does “not provide a platform for hate speech” and said allowing Macklemore at the September 25 and 26 concerts at Gillette would “cross that line.” He accused Macklemore of having a “history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.”
The Patriots owner said his decision “is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf…Their pain and loss are real. But that advocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure the responsibility of Hamas…”
In his own statement, Sheeran said he was unable to “find a mutual resolution” and that “the venue’s and promoter’s decision was final.” Sheeran’s social media statement also included the now infamous line, “I am not complicit.”
Sheeran’s decision and statement prompted an immediate backlash, with other acts on the tour – Finneas, Lukas Graham, Beoga and Aaron Rowe – dropping out in solidarity with Macklemore.
On his Instagram account today, Macklemore said his $1 million donation will go to organizations including Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, Heal Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, UNRWA USA National Committee and Anera.
“I want to center the parents carrying their children into hospitals without the basic resources to treat them, and the physicians, paramedics, journalists and aid workers who keep going back in,” he wrote. “I want to center the organizers and activists who have paid real costs for standing with Palestine. Their risk is of a far different order than mine.”
“Palestinians have lived for decades without basic rights and should not have to wait another day to be free,” he continued. “That is where my focus will remain. I will continue to stand with the Palestinian people and their fight for liberation. When the news cycle moves on, which it will, don’t move with it. Free Palestine.”
No response yet from Kraft on the challenge.
Read Macklemore’s statement below.
