Following Robert Kraft‘s campaign against Macklemore, Zach Bryan made a statement with his performance at Gillette Stadium.
During Friday’s stop at the Kraft-owned venue for his With Heaven on Tour, the Grammy winner stepped onto the stage with a “Free Palestine” shirt after Kraft and other venue owners pressured Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore from his tour over his outspoken support for Palestinians.
With another performance scheduled at the Massachusetts venue on Saturday night, it remains to be seen if Kraft will pull the plug.
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The show comes after Ed Sheeran was forced to cancel his Gillette Stadium shows last weekend amid a nor’easter headed for Boston, despite caving to Kraft’s demands.
Sheeran dropped Macklemore from his tour last month amid an outcry around the opener’s “Free Palestine” onstage remarks. Opting to remain publicly neutral on the issue, Sheeran subsequently released a statement saying it was the “promoter’s decision” after Kraft assembled several of the tour venues to give him an ultimatum.
Following the statement, fellow tour openers Finneas, Aaron Rowe and Lukas Graham dropped out of the tour, along with Sheeran’s backing band Beoga.
Meanwhile, Macklemore announced the Free Palestine Tour last week, which is “supporting the Palestinian people and movement,” running 10/26-10/30 in Dublin, Paris and London. He since gave an update that the tour “sold out immediately.”