Zach Bryan Wears 'Free Palestine' Shirt at Kraft's Gillette

Zach Bryan and his band wore 'Free Palestine' apparel at Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium, weeks after Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour.

Zach Bryan opened his two-night 'With Heaven On Tour' run at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Friday night (Oct. 2) wearing a black cutoff T-shirt reading 'Free Palestine,' with a pine-tree graphic and the phrase 'An Appeal to Heaven' beneath it, per Billboard and CBS News. Several band members wore Palestine-themed clothing as well.

Variety reports that drummer Nate Head wore a Palestine jersey bearing the name 'Hind Rajab' and the number 5, honoring the five-year-old Gaza girl reported killed by Israeli tank fire in January 2024, and reposted footage of himself playing with the hashtags 'RIP Hind Rajab' and 'Free Palestine.' According to Variety, guitarist Noah Le Gros wore a green Palestine soccer jersey and was later seen posing in front of a Kraft Sports & Entertainment sign backstage. Consequence also described Head's jersey and Le Gros's apparel, tying the gesture to Kraft directly.

The setting is what makes the moment a direct defiance. Weeks earlier, Kraft led the removal of Macklemore from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour after the rapper chanted 'Free Palestine' and performed 'Hind's Hall' at MetLife Stadium in September, telling Sheeran the rapper would not be allowed at Gillette Stadium, per Billboard and NBC News. Kraft said the remarks crossed a line into rhetoric hurtful to the Jewish community while insisting he was not minimizing Palestinian suffering. Sheeran said the removal was the promoter's decision, not his, and fellow openers including Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham and Beoga quit the tour in solidarity.

Variety frames the surprise plainly: Bryan is a proud U.S. Navy veteran working at the outskirts of a country audience not universally welcoming to that position, yet he made the statement in Kraft's own stadium. Fan reaction on X was deeply riven, ranging from conservative fans calling the shirt a betrayal to supporters including Candace Owens, who Variety notes posted that the gesture was 'amazing' given Bryan's military service. Newsweek adds that Bryan has described himself as a 'total libertarian' and has mostly avoided partisan stands, though he previously drew White House criticism over his song 'Bad News' referencing ICE raids.

Fan footage from the venue's big screens circulated widely on TikTok and X, and outlets including the Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and New York Daily News all independently confirmed the shirt and band apparel. One caution: Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both note that a statement defending the stance, spread Saturday, came from a fake X account purporting to be Bryan's — his real account has long been deactivated. Ticketmaster seating charts cited by Variety showed only a few hundred tickets left for Saturday's roughly 70,000-capacity show, suggesting no immediate commercial damage.

10 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama, per the Los Angeles Times. Kraft, who has yet to publicly respond, had not commented as of Saturday, with representatives for the Patriots owner telling multiple outlets that requests for comment went unanswered. Meanwhile, Macklemore shared a photo of Bryan's shirt on Instagram Stories with a side-eye emoji and the Palestine flag, per The Hollywood Reporter, after his own sold-out Free Palestine Tour of Dublin, Paris and London opens later this month.