There’s one ‘dangerous’ detail in the Ed Sheeran scandal that a politician says we’re overlooking

Throughout the scandal involving Macklemore, Ed Sheeran, and the simple words “Free Palestine”, there’s an elephant in the room that some are glossing over: Robert Kraft. 

Ed Sheeran has shouldered most of the backlash after Macklemore was removed from his tour over a pro-Palestine speech. His opening acts have dropped out; he’s been slammed by both celebrities and former friends, and his followers have tanked. 

Though Ed is rightly getting backlash for the scandal, the ever-iconic Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez highlighted an aspect that the masses seem to be overlooking. 

“It’s not just what has happened with the act and not just in removing Macklemore from the lineup, but when you see what Robert Kraft did to line up all of the stadiums to censor speech in that one specific way, it’s become clear that this is not just about one music artist or two music artists,” she said, stating in another video, “We need to be very clear about how dangerous a precedent this is.”

@tmz

🗣️ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is standing with Ed Sheeran’s tour artists and band who’ve decided to drop out amid Macklemore being booted for his “Free Palestine” comments. The congresswoman even says if she hears an Ed Sheeran song on the radio, she will be changing the station.

♬ original sound – TMZ – TMZ

As it’s understood, billionaire Robert Kraft used his considerable resources to put pressure on Ed Sheeran through the stadiums hosting his tour. That small group of people, with net worths in the billions, effectively censored a musical artist because of their personal opinions. 

It’s scary, and as the Democrat pointed out, a slippery slope to some dystopian world where the rich and powerful control what is and isn’t said. 

Robert Kraft is a big name in US politics, but for us in the UK, he’s not quite on the same level as Elon Musk in terms of notoriety.

Here are some interesting tidbits about the billionaire. 

What is Robert Kraft’s net worth, and how did he make his money? 

According to Forbes, Robert Kraft’s current net worth is a staggering $15.2 billion, making him the 81st-richest person in America. 

The billionaire attended Columbia University and graduated in 1963, later getting an MBA from Harvard in 1965. He overtook his father-in-law’s packaging company, Rand-Whitney Group, in 1968, before founding the paper company International Forest Products in 1972. A decade later, he became the director of the New England Television Corp, but sold his shares for an estimated $25 million in 1991. 

Much of his life has been spent acquiring and selling various assets, and he’s been the owner of the New England Patriots since 1994. 

Statement from Robert Kraft pic.twitter.com/as3f4RUKse

— Gillette Stadium (@GilletteStadium) September 16, 2026

He’s long played a big part in politics 

Though Robert Kraft has historically been a Democrat, he’s dipped his toes in Republican waters a number of times over the years. In particular, he’s a longtime supporter of Donald Trump, who was his friend before becoming President. 

Over the course of Trump’s presidencies, crafty Kraft has donated millions to various ventures. He donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration day celebrations in 2017, and though the relationship soured after the January 6 insurrection, they’re allegedly best buddies again.

Just last year, Trump placed Robert Kraft’s wife on the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in a bid to exert further control and place his name ahead of President Kennedy’s. Two of Robert’s planes were also used during deportations to Honduras. 

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Robert Kraft’s almost endless supply of money, paired with his close proximity to the political system, is one of the reasons Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez are so concerned. 

What’s to stop further censoring in the future? 

Is Robert Kraft related to Kraft Foods?

Amidst the scandal, and no doubt based on Robert Kraft’s last name, people have questioned whether there are any links to Kraft Foods, which owns everything from Heinz to Capri Sun. 

There’s no association, though, as Kraft Foods was started by James L. Kraft in Chicago. 

donating to “aid in the region” is incredibly unspecific and may very well be to zionist causes, given robert kraft’s history. macklemore told us which six orgs he’s donating to. will robert kraft do the same? https://t.co/uJwukfgEmW

— matt bernstein (@mattxiv) September 16, 2026

What’s the Robert Kraft ‘massage parlour’ incident?

Much like people found controversies from Macklemore’s past after the scandal, people also dug through Robert Kraft’s history to find skeletons in the closet. 

In February 2019, Robert Kraft was charged with two misdemeanour counts of soliciting prostitution, which he denied. His lawyers later managed to have the charges wiped after it emerged that investigators had used secret cameras to capture the alleged visits to massage parlours in Florida. 

Just this year, it emerged that Robert had maintained a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, with the disgraced financier encouraging his mate to use his legal team for that incident. 

He’s passionately pro-Israel 

Credit: Guilad Kahn/EPA/Shutterstock

Robert Kraft is a Jewish man, but as we know, being Jewish doesn’t necessarily mean you’re pro-Israel and supportive of the ongoing conflict. 

Robert Kraft has a long history of pro-Israel statements, having withdrawn his financial support from Columbia University following student-led pro-Palestine protests. He said he was “no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken.”

The Trump administration agreed and withdrew $400m of federal funding for Columbia. The university was eventually forced to buckle and pay a $221 million settlement to have its federal funding restored. 

“Israel does not have a more loyal friend than Robert Kraft,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. 

The cherry on top of this whole situation is that Ed Sheeran performed at Robert Kraft’s wedding, but we should heed the warning from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

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Featured image credit: AARON SCHWARTZ/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock