Colin Kaepernick says NFL owners are colluding after Macklemore dropped from Ed Sheeran tour
On 16 September 2026 Colin Kaepernick accused NFL owners of colluding against Macklemore after the rapper was removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour following pro-Palestine remarks made at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium; Kaepernick made the comments on the MeidasTouch podcast.
Macklemore, who had been a supporting act on Ed Sheeran’s tour, told the MetLife Stadium crowd he wanted the people of Gaza and “the occupied West Bank” to know “we have not forgotten about them” and also said “free Palestine”. Robert Kraft, described in the report as a longtime supporter of Israel, and several other owners of NFL stadiums the tour was due to visit said they would not let Macklemore play at their venues, a decision that led to his removal from the tour.
Kaepernick recalled his own protests, noting he began kneeling during the national anthem in the 2016 NFL season in protest at police brutality and social injustice. Despite being in his prime, Kaepernick was not signed by any NFL team after he left the San Francisco 49ers at the end of that season and has not played in the league since. He filed a grievance against the NFL in 2017; that case was settled in 2019 with terms of the agreement undisclosed.
Kaepernick told the MeidasTouch podcast that Kraft and other NFL owners had tried to hound out Macklemore in a similar way they did to him. “When we filed the grievance, it was like, well, the owners wouldn’t do that,” Kaepernick said. “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. And they also want people to know that if you take an action that they don’t agree with, they will come for you.”
Kaepernick said others may find themselves in a similar situation to Macklemore in the future. “It may not touch you today, at some point it’s going to come knocking on your doorstep or someone you love’s doorstep and that’s not the moment to be able to take action,” he said. “We should be taking action actively right now.”
Elsewhere on Wednesday, NBA star Kyrie Irving said he would pay a $11,492 fine the NFL gave to Azeez Al-Shair. Al-Shair had displayed the name of a Palestinian girl killed by Israel during a game, doing so using a face marking banned by the league.
All four supporting acts for upcoming dates of Sheeran’s tour have since withdrawn in support of Macklemore. Kraft has said his decision to ban Macklemore from the Patriots’ stadium was due to his “recent actions” and “a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community”.