Grammy-winner Zach Bryan sported a “Free Palestine” tee during a performance at Gillette Stadium, after its billionaire owner, Robert Kraft, banned Macklemore from performing there over his vocal support for those living in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Bryan made his political fashion statement Friday night, the first show of his two-night run at the Kraft-owned venue for his With Heaven on Tour. His second performance in Foxborough, Mass. is still scheduled to go on as of Saturday morning.
Kraft previously declared Macklemore unwelcome in Gillette, which is also home to the New England Patriots.
The “Thrift Shop” singer, who’d been opening for Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour, sparked controversy after he chanted “Free Palestine,” and then performed his protest song “Hind’s Hall” during concerts in New Jersey last month. He also spoke out in support of Palestinian liberation and criticized the death toll in Gaza during his set at MetLife Stadium.
In response, Sheeran’s touring company, Messina Touring Group, dropped Macklemore from the lineup. Sheeran has since said the decision to boot Macklemore was not his, and he later donated $2 million to humanitarian aid efforts.
Macklemore later confirmed Sheeran received an ultimatum to remove him from the tour or risk his shows being cancelled, further claiming that Kraft “rallied” other stadium owners after his “Free Palestine” comments to force him off the tour.
Sheeran, in the end, was ultimately forced to cancel his shows at Gillette last weekend as a nor’easter roared toward Boston.
Amid the fallout, Macklemore announced plans to headline a Free Palestine Tour, which is set to kick off in Europe later this month. The first three shows, to be held at Dublin’s 3 Arena, Paris’s Accor Arena and London’s Wembley Arena, “sold out immediately.”
“I’m honestly blown away,” Macklemore said. “We put these shows together fast and in community, believing that musicians can stand in solidarity with Palestine, use the stage to raise funds and show what collective action can look like.”
All proceeds will go towards organizations supporting the Palestinian people.
