Macklemore Donates $1 Million Ed Sheeran Tour Salary to Palestine Aid, Challenges Robert Kraft to Match

Macklemore has announced he will donate the entire $1 million he earned as an opening act on Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to organizations supporting the Palestinian people, and publicly challenged New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft — who he says blocked him from performing at Gillette Stadium — to match the contribution. Kraft responded by pledging $2 million, saying Sheeran himself had separately asked him to match Macklemore’s donation.

What Led to the Donation

Macklemore was removed from Sheeran’s North American Loop Tour earlier in September after delivering “Free Palestine” messaging on stage during shows at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. According to Macklemore, Sheeran told him that Robert Kraft — whose Kraft Group owns Gillette Stadium, where the tour was scheduled to play later that month — informed Sheeran that Macklemore would not be allowed to perform at the venue. Macklemore further alleged that Kraft had reached out to other stadium owners in an effort to have him removed from additional tour stops.

Situation Snapshot

Kraft’s Side of the Story

Kraft confirmed in a statement posted to Gillette Stadium’s social media account that he would not permit Macklemore to perform at the venue, citing what he described as the rapper’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during the New Jersey shows, and what Kraft called a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery he found offensive. Kraft also said that, separately, Sheeran had personally asked him to commit $2 million to humanitarian aid for the region, and that he agreed to do so before Macklemore issued his own public challenge for Kraft to match the donation.

Sheeran’s Position

Ed Sheeran issued his own statement distancing himself from the decision to remove Macklemore from the tour, saying he was not complicit in it and that venue and promoter decisions, not his own choice, drove the lineup changes. He said he preferred to remain neutral on political causes. Sheeran’s remaining opening acts — Finneas, Aaron Rowe, and Lukas Graham — along with his core team, reportedly expressed solidarity following the episode.

What Macklemore Said

Announcing the donation on Instagram, Macklemore said he wanted to centre the organizers and activists who have paid real costs for standing with Palestine, framing the moment as being about Palestinians’ right to freedom, dignity, and safety in their homeland rather than about himself, the tour, or the surrounding controversy.

The Follow-Up: A ‘Free Palestine’ Tour

In the aftermath, Macklemore announced a separate “Free Palestine” tour, with shows scheduled in Dublin on October 26 and Paris on October 29, alongside a planned London date. All proceeds from those shows will go toward the same cause, benefiting organizations including Anera, Glia, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Taawon, HEAL Palestine, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Middle East Children’s Alliance, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Why It Matters

The episode has become one of the more prominent flashpoints in the music industry’s ongoing, often fraught engagement with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, drawing in a major pop touring act, a high-profile NFL franchise owner, and competing public statements about intent and responsibility. The financial commitments from both Macklemore and Kraft — totalling roughly $3 million between them — mark a rare instance of a public dispute translating into concrete humanitarian pledges from both sides involved.

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