When rapper Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran's tour after voicing support for Palestinians at a New York stadium, Colin Kaepernick recognized the architecture of a familiar silence — one he believes was built around him nearly a decade ago. The episode, centered on New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's objection to Macklemore's appearance at Gillette Stadium and the subsequent cascade of venue withdrawals, has reignited a long-running debate about whether powerful ownership coalitions can and do coordinate to suppress voices that challenge their interests. Kaepernick, who settled a c
Kaepernick draws parallel between Macklemore's removal and his own NFL grievance
They will organize against you, which means we collectively have to organize
Mark
So Kaepernick is saying Kraft and other owners coordinated to remove Macklemore. What's the actual evidence that this coordination happened?
Mimi
Macklemore said Kraft objected to his appearance and contacted other NFL stadium owners. Kraft confirmed he wouldn't allow Macklemore at Gillette but denied it was about silencing Palestinian advocacy. The tour promoter then removed him from all dates, saying multiple venues wouldn't host him.
Luke
Right, but we don't have confirmation from those other owners that Kraft actually contacted them or that they agreed to anything. We have Macklemore's account and Kraft's denial. The promoter's statement is vague—"multiple venues indicated"—but we don't know if that was because of Kraft's calls or because venues made independent decisions.
Mark
And Kaepernick is comparing this to his own situation with the NFL. Did the NFL ever admit to collusion?
Mimi
No. The league denied it. Kaepernick filed a grievance in 2017, and they settled confidentially in 2019 without a ruling on the merits. So his grievance was never proven or disproven in any public way.
Luke
That's crucial. Kaepernick is drawing a parallel between two situations—one where collusion was alleged but never adjudicated, and one where coordination is alleged but not yet confirmed. The parallel assumes the first one was real, which we don't actually know.
Mark
What about the Jay-Z partnership? Is Kaepernick's claim that Jay-Z was brought in to "subvert" the protests something we can verify?
Mimi
Kaepernick says the NFL approached him first, he declined, and then they went to Jay-Z. Jay-Z's 2019 statement was that the country had moved beyond kneeling and should focus on actionable change. Kaepernick interprets that as co-optation.
Luke
But we don't have confirmation from the NFL or Jay-Z about what was offered to Kaepernick or why Jay-Z accepted the partnership. Kaepernick's interpretation of Jay-Z's motives is his own. The facts are: partnership happened, Jay-Z said that thing about moving beyond kneeling. The rest is inference.
Mark
So what's actually solid here?
Mimi
Macklemore was removed from the tour. Kraft objected and said he contacted other owners. The promoter removed him from all dates. Kaepernick made a public comparison. Those are the facts.
Luke
And Kraft disputed the characterization of why he objected—he said it was about anti-Semitic rhetoric, not Palestinian advocacy. That's a significant dispute about motive that the reporting should hold clearly.
Il Polso
- After Macklemore performed a pro-Palestinian song at MetLife Stadium, Robert Kraft moved to block him from Gillette Stadium and, according to Macklemore, reached out to other NFL venue owners to do the same — triggering a chain reaction that ended his entire tour run.
- Kaepernick, who spent years outside the NFL after kneeling during the national anthem, publicly accused the owners of open collusion, arguing the Macklemore episode is proof that coordinated suppression of activism is not a conspiracy theory but a documented reflex.
- Kraft disputed the framing, citing what he called Macklemore's history of anti-Semitic rhetoric rather than Palestinian advocacy as his reason for the ban, while Ed Sheeran distanced himself from the decision and said he had tried to mediate between the two parties.
- The controversy widened as all remaining supporting acts withdrew from the tour, Macklemore pledged his million-dollar earnings to Palestinian aid organizations, and Kaepernick used the moment to revisit the NFL's 2019 partnership with Jay-Z — which he characterized as an effort to redirect and neutralize player-led protest movements.
- The episode now sits at the intersection of free expression, corporate power, and the limits of activism inside commercially controlled spaces, with no resolution in sight and the underlying tensions sharper than ever.
When rapper Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran's tour after voicing support for Palestinians at a New York stadium, Colin Kaepernick recognized the architecture of a familiar silence — one he believes was built around him nearly a decade ago. The episode, centered on New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's objection to Macklemore's appearance at Gillette Stadium and the subsequent cascade of venue withdrawals, has reignited a long-running debate about whether powerful ownership coalitions can and do coordinate to suppress voices that challenge their interests. Kaepernick, who settled a collusion grievance against NFL owners in 2019 without a formal ruling, sees in Macklemore's removal not an isolated business decision, but a demonstration of how institutional power organizes itself against dissent.
Colin Kaepernick sees a familiar pattern in Macklemore's removal from Ed Sheeran's tour. After the rapper performed a song about Gaza and called for Palestinian freedom at MetLife Stadium, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft objected to his scheduled appearance at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts. According to Macklemore, Kraft then contacted other NFL stadium owners, leading multiple venues to signal they would not host the tour with him on the bill. The promoter ultimately pulled Macklemore from all remaining dates. Kraft confirmed he had blocked the Gillette appearance but rejected the idea that he was suppressing Palestinian advocacy, pointing instead to what he described as Macklemore's history of anti-Semitic rhetoric. Ed Sheeran said the decision belonged to the promoter and that he had attempted to arrange a conversation between the two men.
For Kaepernick, the episode was not a surprise. In an interview with MeidasTouch, he drew a direct line to his own experience — his 2017 collusion grievance against NFL owners who, he alleged, coordinated to keep him out of the league after his anthem protests against police brutality. The league denied wrongdoing, and the two sides reached a confidential settlement in 2019. Kaepernick said the Macklemore situation confirmed what that process taught him: that owners prioritize protecting their power and money above all else, and that anyone who acts against their interests should expect an organized response.
Kaepernick also revisited the NFL's broader handling of player activism, alleging that the league sought a prominent Black spokesperson to help contain the protest controversy, approached him to lead its social-justice efforts, and — after he declined — partnered with Jay-Z and Roc Nation in 2019. He characterized that arrangement as an attempt to redirect attention away from systemic issues and neutralize the protest movement from within.
Macklemore responded to his removal by pledging the roughly one million dollars he earned from the tour to six organizations supporting Palestinians, and publicly invited Kraft to match the contribution. Kraft said Sheeran had already privately asked him to donate two million dollars toward humanitarian relief. The remaining acts on the tour withdrew amid the fallout. For Kaepernick, the entire episode only deepened his conviction that the machinery of ownership, when threatened, moves as one.
Colin Kaepernick sees a pattern repeating itself. When rapper Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran's "Loop Tour" following his pro-Palestinian remarks at MetLife Stadium, Kaepernick recognized what he believes is the same machinery that pushed him out of professional football a decade earlier: owners moving in concert to silence dissent.
Macklemore had been scheduled to open for Sheeran at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, owned by New England Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft. After Macklemore performed "Hind's Hall," a song about Gaza, and called for Palestinian freedom at MetLife, Kraft objected to his appearance at the Massachusetts venue. According to Macklemore's account, Kraft then contacted other NFL stadium owners to block the rapper from performing at their facilities as well. Kraft confirmed he would not allow Macklemore to perform at Gillette but disputed characterizations that he was attempting to suppress Palestinian advocacy, instead citing what he described as Macklemore's history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery. The tour promoter, Messina Touring Group, subsequently removed Macklemore from all remaining dates after multiple venues indicated they would not host the concerts with him on the bill. Sheeran said the decision rested with the promoter and that he had tried to broker a conversation between Macklemore and Kraft.
During an interview with Ben Meiselas for MeidasTouch, Kaepernick drew a direct line between Macklemore's removal and his own experience. "What Robert Kraft and what they're saying by denying Macklemore the opportunity to go out and perform with Ed Sheeran is that they are willing to collude," Kaepernick said. "They are openly colluding." He argued that the episode demonstrated the willingness of powerful owners to coordinate when they perceive their interests as threatened, and that it sends a message to anyone considering activism: "If you take an action that they don't agree with, they will come for you. They will organize against you."
Kaepernick's own grievance against NFL owners dates to 2017, when he accused them of conspiring to keep him out of the league after he began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality and racial injustice. He opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers in March 2017 and has not played in an NFL game since the end of that 2016 season. The league denied any collusion. The two sides reached a confidential settlement in 2019 without a ruling on whether the owners had actually conspired against him. In the MeidasTouch interview, Kaepernick reflected on what that settlement taught him: "When we filed the grievance, it was like, 'well, the owners wouldn't do that. Everybody just wants to win within the NFL.' And the realization is, 'no. They want to protect their interests. They want to protect their power. They want to protect their money.'"
Kaepernick also used the platform to revisit the NFL's broader response to player-led protests. He referenced a 2017 meeting at which Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula reportedly said the league needed a prominent Black spokesperson to help resolve the controversy. Kaepernick claimed the NFL initially approached the Players Coalition before attempting to recruit him to lead its social-justice initiatives. When he declined, he said, the league eventually partnered with rapper Jay-Z. The NFL and Roc Nation announced their partnership in 2019, giving Jay-Z's company a role in the league's entertainment and social-justice strategy. At the time, Jay-Z stated the country had moved beyond kneeling and should focus on concrete change. Kaepernick characterized this partnership as the owners finding a "Black face" to help "subvert the protests" and redirect attention away from police killings, incarceration, and resources for Black communities.
Macklemore, for his part, pledged to donate the $1 million he said he earned from Sheeran's tour to six organizations supporting Palestinians and publicly invited Kraft to match the contribution. Kraft later said Sheeran had already privately asked him to contribute $2 million toward humanitarian relief. The remaining supporting acts on the tour—Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe, and Beoga—withdrew amid the controversy. For Kaepernick, the fallout only reinforced what he sees as a consistent pattern: owners protecting their interests by eliminating voices they view as threats.
Citazioni salienti
They are willing to collude. They are openly colluding.— Colin Kaepernick, on Robert Kraft and NFL owners' actions regarding Macklemore
They want to protect their interests. They want to protect their power. They want to protect their money.— Colin Kaepernick, reflecting on what his NFL grievance revealed about owner motivations
Vuoi la storia completa?
Leggi l'originale su Fox News ↗
Sports