Robert Kraft donates $2 million for humanitarian crisis in Palestine, following Macklemore incident

Robert Kraft, the Jewish and pro-Israel billionaire who owns Gillette Stadium, said on Thursday that he is going to match English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran's donations to "fight the humanitarian crisis [in Gaza]," following the incident involving the American rapper Macklemore.

"I have dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people. I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting," said Kraft in a statement shared by the Gillette Stadium. "Earlier today, before Macklemore challenged me to match his donation, Ed called me and asked me to commit $2 million to match his donation to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis."

"In addition, I'd like the people who are speaking in support of the Palestinian people to know that for decades, I have supported efforts that create opportunity for Palestinians and have brought young Palestinians and Israelis together to build businesses, create jobs, and forge relationships," he added.

The statement generated mixed reactions amid several prominent anti-Israeli figures, with one of them being Turkish-American political activist Cenk Uygur. "He’ll probably send the money to 'the region' to help Israel kill more kids. And he’ll use the rest to cancel anyone who disagrees," he replied.

"Robert Kraft is part of a group here who bullies Americans regularly and takes away our rights to help their beloved Israel," he added.

What happened between Kraft and Macklemore

The incident with Macklemore began when Ed Sheeran dropped the rapper from opening his show at Gillette Stadium, something Kraft took credit for.

"Gillette Stadium has a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests and ensuring that events held at our venue do not provide a platform for hate speech,” Kraft said in a statement reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

His statement continued, “Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line.”

The actions cited happened during a recent show at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, where Macklemore upset some Jewish and pro-Israel groups by accusing Israel of genocide and saying “Free Palestine” onstage while showing images of the war in Gaza.

Macklemore's history of antisemitism

According to information compiled by American businessman Dave Portnoy, this wasn't the first time that Macklemore was involved in an antisemitic incident.

"Macklemore has a pretty shady past. He already, at a prior concert, dressed in a widely antisemitic trope. This is before the October 7 attacks," he started, and showed images from a 2014 show where he dressed with a fake bear and nose in a Seattle show.

"Maybe this 'Free Palestine' thing he is doing has a little more deep-seated hatred than he is making it seem like," he added, and pointed out that Macklemore is also a "9/11 truther, who insinuated that George Bush was responsible for the towers going down."

"He also blamed, or called what was going on in Gaza a 'genocide' 12 days after the attacks," Portnoy continues, and clarifies that Macklemore failed to mention the October 7 massacre when making those comments.

"This ain't freedom of speech," Portnoy continued, arguing that Kraft can decide what messages can be made when performing on a site he owns.