Nocturnal 
Zach Bryan took to the stage at Gillette Stadium on Friday night wearing a black “Free Palestine” T-shirt, weeks after the venue’s owner, Robert Kraft, pushed to have Macklemore banned from Ed Sheeran’s tour for saying the same thing.
The country star, 30, didn’t mention the shirt or the row from the stage during the first of his two sold-out shows in Foxborough, Massachusetts, as first reported by Sick Chirpse and later confirmed by outlets including Billboard, Yahoo and the Boston Globe. Several members of his backing band wore matching shirts. Fans spotted it instantly and the clips spread quickly on social media.
The Macklemore and Robert Kraft row explained
The controversy began last month when Macklemore shouted “Free Palestine” on stage at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey while opening for Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour. According to Macklemore, Kraft – the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium – then called Sheeran and said the rapper would not be allowed to perform at Gillette, and reportedly rallied other NFL stadium owners to issue the same ban.
Macklemore was subsequently dropped from the remaining eight dates of the Loop Tour. Fellow acts Finneas and Lukas Graham, along with Sheeran’s backing band Beoga, withdrew from the tour in solidarity.
Kraft defended the decision in his own statement, pointing to “material shared from the stage” at the New Jersey shows and what he described as “a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery” linked to Macklemore.
Sheeran has repeatedly said the call to remove Macklemore was made by promoters rather than himself, and that he wanted to stay publicly neutral on the conflict. He later donated $2 million to global humanitarian aid and, returning to the stage in Philadelphia on 19 September, apologised to fans for “mistakes” in how the fallout was handled. Macklemore has since announced his own “Free Palestine Tour”.
Bryan’s history of speaking out
Bryan, an Oklahoma native and US Navy veteran, has previously used his music to wade into political territory. Earlier this year he released “Bad News,” a song referencing the actions of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which was criticised by then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Boston Globe notes the song was written before two Americans, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
Away from music, Bryan has been involved in setting up a centre in Lowell, Massachusetts, honouring writer Jack Kerouac, having bought a former church to house it and reportedly paid a record sum for the original scroll manuscript of Kerouac’s “On the Road”.
Where things stand now
Bryan is scheduled to play a second night at Gillette Stadium on Saturday 3 October, and attention is now on whether Kraft responds publicly to Friday’s wardrobe statement or whether the second show goes ahead as planned. As of now, there has been no official comment from Kraft or his team regarding Bryan’s shirt.
Neither Bryan nor his representatives have issued a statement explaining the choice of clothing, and the singer did not reference the Macklemore situation or Kraft during his performance.
