Robert Kraft donation talks moved fast after Macklemore said he would give away his $1 million Loop tour salary. Kraft said Ed Sheeran asked him to commit $2 million to match it, turning a tour dispute into a direct aid challenge with money now set against the same cause.
“called me and asked me to commit $2 million to match his donation to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis,” Kraft said. He also said, “I have dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people. I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting.”
Macklemore’s $1 million pledge
Macklemore said he would donate the entire $1 million of his net earnings from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organizations working directly to support Palestinian people. He also said he wanted to bring the conversation back to the Palestinian people and to center the parents, physicians, paramedics, journalists and aid workers who keep going back into hospitals in Gaza.
That pledge came after a two-minute speech during his set at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey earlier this month, where he said, “free Palestine. I want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.” Macklemore later wrote, “With everything that has happened over the last 48 hours, I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation, and still fighting for their freedom.”
Sheeran, Kraft, and the split
Ed Sheeran posted an explanation on Tuesday morning saying he wanted to remain publicly neutral on political causes. He also said Kraft and several other venue owners told him the tour could not play at their stadiums if Macklemore continued as an opener. The result was a business problem, not just a public-relations one: Macklemore was dropped from the tour after backlash to his onstage comments in support of Palestine.
One day later, all four of Sheeran’s opening acts for the remainder of the Loop tour withdrew in solidarity with Macklemore and Palestine. The four were Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Boega and Lukas Graham, and their exit left the rest of the run without support acts.
Kraft’s unanswered $2 million
Kraft did not specify which organizations or charities would receive any donated money, which leaves the match as a pledge rather than an executed transfer. That is the part to watch now: Macklemore has named the size of his commitment and the cause, but the route for Kraft’s $2 million still has to be set before any matching money can reach the ground.
