Macklemore to donate $1 million to Palestinian charities, challenges Robert Kraft to match

Rapper Macklemore says he will donate $1 million in net earnings from opening shows on Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to organizations serving Palestinians in Gaza, and he is daring New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft to match the gift.

The Seattle rapper, born Ben Haggerty, announced the donation on social media this week, saying the money will be split among six groups: the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, Heal Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, the UNRWA USA National Committee and Anera.

“A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth,” Mr. Haggerty wrote in the post announcing the donation.

The gesture follows a bruising week for Mr. Haggerty, who was dropped from the remainder of Mr. Sheeran’s stadium tour after leading crowds in “Free Palestine” chants during shows at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4 and 5. Mr. Haggerty has said — relaying an account he attributes to Mr. Sheeran — that Mr. Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium outside Boston, rallied other stadium owners to threaten a boycott unless he was removed from the tour. Separately, and independent of that claim, several venues did notify the tour’s promoter that they would not host a show with Mr. Haggerty on the bill; Mr. Kraft has not addressed whether he organized that pressure himself.

Mr. Kraft has donated tens of millions of dollars to organizations combating antisemitism, including more than $20 million to the “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” campaign. He has said his goal in opposing Mr. Haggerty’s booking at Gillette was “peace for all people, an end to suffering, and an end to all hate.” A spokesman for Mr. Kraft declined to comment on the invitation to match Mr. Haggerty’s donation.

Mr. Sheeran has denied playing any role in the decision, saying it belonged to the tour’s promoter after venues objected to how Mr. Haggerty delivered his message onstage.

“Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,” Mr. Sheeran wrote on Instagram this week.

The fallout has since spread across the tour’s lineup. Supporting acts Finneas, Aaron Rowe and Lukas Graham withdrew from upcoming dates in solidarity with Mr. Haggerty, as did the Irish band Beoga, which had been performing as Mr. Sheeran’s backing band for part of each show — leaving the tour without its previously announced opening acts. The tour remains scheduled to resume Sept. 19 in Philadelphia.

Mr. Haggerty, a longtime advocate for Palestinian causes, previously donated proceeds from his 2024 protest song “Hind’s Hall” to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. In his latest statement, he wrote that he wants attention to remain on “the parents carrying their children into hospitals without the basic resources to treat them.”