Robert Kraft: Zach Bryan wears Free Palestine shirt at Gillette Stadium

The Zach Bryan Free Palestine shirt echoes Macklemore's own protest

Zach Bryan walked out at Gillette Stadium this week in a black T-shirt reading "Free Palestine". 

He and his band wore matching shirts for the first of two shows in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on 2 October. 

Weeks earlier, that same message had gotten Macklemore dropped from the bill entirely.

The venue made the gesture pointed. Gillette Stadium belongs to the Kraft Group, whose chairman is Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Irish fans already knew the story.

That controversy began when Macklemore joined Sheeran on stage at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey last month. 

He voiced support for Palestinians facing the war in Gaza and the West Bank. calling for a "Free Palestine" and performing his protest track "Hind's Hall" with Gaza footage playing behind him.

The Israeli-American Council and other groups then demanded organisers drop him from the tour. 

Kraft called Macklemore's performances "deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community" and ruled him out of ever playing the venue.

Macklemore followed the events by announcing his own "Free Palestine Tour", which sold out in just five minutes for his Dublin dates.

Robert Kraft's stadium and the fallout it caused

Sheeran distanced himself from the decision. He said he was "not complicit" in Macklemore being dropped. 

He said he had spent days looking for another way through. Promoter Messina Touring made the final call, Sheeran said, after venues warned they would cancel shows if Macklemore stayed on the bill.

Bryan has not said publicly why he chose the same gesture at the same stadium. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he and his band wore the shirts without any announcement as he opened the first of his two Gillette Stadium dates.