Robert Kraft pledges $2m to Palestinian relief after Ed Sheeran call, as Macklemore feud rages

Robert Kraft has pledged $2 million to Palestinian relief efforts after Ed Sheeran personally called on him to donate, Page Six reported.

The billionaire owner of the New England Patriots and the Kraft Group shared a statement on Wednesday saying he had already decided to make the donation before Macklemore publicly challenged him to match the rapper’s own $1 million pledge.

“Earlier today, before Macklemore challenged me to match his donation, Ed called me and asked me to commit $2 million to match his donation to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis,” Kraft’s statement reads. “Ed now plans to reach out to other venue owners and our goal is to continue to work together to build bridges.”

Kraft, 85, said he has dedicated his life to helping people come together and believes “all lives are worth protecting.”

The pledge lands in the middle of a deepening row between Sheeran and Macklemore. Macklemore was dropped from Sheeran’s Loop Tour after delivering a “Free Palestine” speech at a concert in New Jersey, and responded by pledging to donate all the money he made on the tour — $1 million — while inviting Kraft to match it.

“Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protection,” Macklemore wrote. “A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any life on this earth.”

On Tuesday, Sheeran’s tour openers — Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe — and his own backing band, Beoga, all quit the tour in solidarity with Macklemore. Sheeran insisted in an Instagram statement that dropping the rapper was “the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,” adding that he had tried to “build a bridge” between the two sides, including by talking to Kraft, but was unsuccessful.