What you need to know about Robert Kraft, the pro-Israel billionaire who pressured Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore

Earlier this month, billionaire Robert Kraft allegedly had the rapper Macklemore removed as an opening act on singer Ed Sheeran’s tour. Kraft, who owns the National Football League’s (NFL) New England Patriots, Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution, and Gillette Stadium, where the Sheeran concert will take place later this week, objected to comments Macklemore made on stage during Sheeran’s September 4th show at MetLife Stadium.

“The truth is, a big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I can stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine,” Macklemore told the crowd, while introducing his song “Hind’s Hall,” which celebrates Columbia University’s student protesters. “I want those words to be loud and clear so the people all the way in Gaza, to the occupied West Bank, know that we have not forgotten about them.” Kraft, who is Jewish, claimed that Macklemore’s words crossed the line into “hate speech” and accused him of having a “broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.” According to a statement from Macklemore, Sheeran told him that Kraft had reached out to other stadium owners, calling on them to blacklist the rapper.

First reported by Mondoweiss.