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Macklemore may have been barred from saying “Free Palestine!” at Robert Kraft‘s Gillette Stadium — and indeed, from anywhere else on Ed Sheeran‘s tour, as that headliner agreed with Kraft that the controversial rapper should be removed from the opening slot on all the shows he was booked for. But it was probably inevitable that, at some point, some musician would make a statement by sneaking in the same message while playing Kraft’s venue in Foxborough, Mass.
What was surprising, to just about everyone, was who actually pulled it off: Zach Bryan. The country-rock superstar wore a “Free Palestine” T-shirt Friday night in the first of his two headlining appearances at Gillette Stadium, and fan footage shared from the venue’s big screens shows that at least two of Bryan’s band members were wearing Palestine jerseys as well.
Part of the surprise in Bryan being the one to make the bold statement in Kraft territory is that he is a proud Navy veteran working at least on the outskirts of a genre, country, that has a fan base that would not be universally welcoming to such a position. Indeed, the reaction among self-proclaimed Bryan fans on X and other social media platforms was deeply riven, as word of his wardrobe choice spread late Friday night and into Saturday morning.
Bryan was seen wearing a T-shirt (with the sleeves cut off, as is his nightly custom) bearing the logo “Free Palestine.” Beneath that on the shirt were an emblem of a pine tree and another message that read “An Appeal to Heaven.” These are references to a flag commissioned by George Washington in 1775 for a fleet of schooners sent to intercept British ships; later, it became the flag for the Massachusetts Navy — giving it a distinct historical and local connection for the Boston-area show.
Bryan’s drummer, Nate Head bore a jersey with Palestine on the front and, on the back, the numeral 5 and the name “Hind Rajab.” Rajab was a 5-year-old girl in Gaza reported to have been killed by the Israeli military’s tank fire on Jan. 24, 2024, after having been trapped with her cousin and pleading for help in a disabled car for hours.
On his Instagram Stories, the drummer reposted a user sharing footage of him pounding the drums while wearing his Palestine/Hind Rajab jersey, with that user’s caption, “Who wants to listen to me talk for 2 hours straight about this cultural shift,” and the hashtags “RIP Hind Rajab” and “Free Palestine.”
Bryan’s guitarist, Noah Le Gros, also wore a green Palestine soccer jersey. He was later seen posing, pointedly, in front of a Kraft Sports & Entertainment sign backstage.
Some news outlets ran with a widely spread and apparently false statement attributed to Bryan on Saturday. The statement, in which Bryan supposedly spoke up defending his stance from the night before, came from an X account that purports to belong to the singer but does not. (Bryan’s real X account has been deactivated.)
Bryan and band are set to perform at Gillette Stadium for a second consecutive night on Saturday evening. A Ticketmaster seating chart for the show indicates only a few hundred tickets still on sale for the show, in a venue with an estimated concert capacity of 70,000.
Bryan’s on-stage statement immediately drew a lot of negative feedback from conservative fans, although there are pockets on the right that have come out against Israel’s actions in Gaza who applauded Bryan. Among them was Candace Owens, who posted on X, “This is amazing. Only made more amazing by the fact that Zach Bryan served our country. Genocide is always wrong.”
Bryan’s politics have been somewhat elusive, with the singer-songwriter posting that he finds deep problems on both sides of America’s political divides. He previously raised the ire of some on the right with a song titled “Bad News,” which among its scattershot character-study lyrics, contained a seemingly negative reference to ICE (“ICE is gonna come, bust down your door / Try and build a house no one builds no more / But I got a telephone / Kids are all scared and all alone”). Following that, many on social media threatened to “Bud Light” him — that is, subject him to a boycott. But Bryan’s stadium shows have continued to be sellouts, and the artist has remained mostly apolitical as far as taking stands on any hot-button issues.
It has been just under a month since Macklemore spoke out against Israel opening for Ed Sheeran’s “Loop” tour at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4. Although the tour promoter believed he had agreed to not repeat the statements the following night, he did, leading to his dismissal from the tour. Messina Touring Group, the promoter, said that Kraft — a friend of Sheeran — would not allow the tour to play his venues if Macklemore remained on the bill. (Sheeran’s shows at Gillette Stadium ended up being canceled anyway, due to the east coast’s damaging nor’easter weather.)
Attempts to reach Robert Kraft’s organization for comment Saturday were unsuccessful.
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