Lorde has called out Robert Kraft by wearing a jacket with the message “Free Palestine” – which comes in response to the controversy over Ed Sheeran’s tour with Macklemore.
Sheeran has been at the centre of controversy recently, after Macklemore was dropped as a support act for his ‘Loop’ tour after making a speech calling for a “free Palestine”.
After making his comments on-stage, Robert Kraft – who owns the Gillette Stadium and is also owner of the New England Patriots – spoke out about the situation, saying he found Macklemore’s speech “deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community”.
Following more disapproval from the likes of Pink and the Israeli American Council, the rapper was removed from the tour.
Since then, countless big names including Greta Thunberg, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Dropkick Murphys, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Billy Bragg and Hayley Williams have shown their support for Macklemore, and Ed Sheeran’s band and other tour support acts have pulled out in solidarity with the rapper.
Now, Lorde has also shown her solidarity with Macklemore too, posting a photo of her wearing a jacket that has the message “Free Palestine” written at the bottom, and trying to tag Kraft in the post.
The white, one-of-a-kind piece is the same jacket she wore when performing at Austin City Limits set two days prior, and seems to have been decorated with her handwriting. In the photo, she didn’t share a caption, but instead just tagged “@mr.robertkraft” – which is a fan page for the venue owner.
Lorde tags a Robert Kraft account in a photo with a ‘Free Palestine’ jacket. pic.twitter.com/bxE2EGwDJ2
Around the time the controversy with Macklemore began, Ed Sheeran spoke out about the situation, saying he was “not complicit” and “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine” – seeing the “suffering and pain caused on both sides” as a “tragedy”. The ‘Shape Of You’ singer later returned to the stage in Philadelphia and apologised for “making mistakes”.
Since then, Macklemore has since donated his entire $1million earnings from the tour to six organisations supporting Palestinians, and also announced a ‘Free Palestine Tour’, which has already sold out.
Kraft has said that Ed Sheeran had asked him to match a $2million humanitarian contribution in light of the situation.
Since the scandal kicked off, Sheeran’s scheduled gigs at the Gillette Stadium were cancelled due to “severe weather warnings” in the area.
