Zach Bryan Sparks Outrage at NFL Stadium

Country singer Zach Bryan wore a shirt reading “Free Palestine… Appeal to Heaven” during a concert Friday, October 2, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The stadium is owned by Robert Kraft, who also owns the New England Patriots. Video from the show showed the shirt with both phrases and a pine-tree emblem. Some members of Bryan’s band wore similar shirts.

“An appeal to heaven” dates to the Revolutionary War. It appeared on Massachusetts’ official maritime flag until 1971, tied to the idea that God would deliver the colonists from tyranny, according to a 2024 Associated Press account cited by CBS News.

Bryan has not said why he wore the shirt or stated a position on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Foxborough date was the first of two shows booked at the stadium.

The appearance landed four weeks after rapper Macklemore was dropped as an opener for Ed Sheeran at the same building. Macklemore had made anti-Israel remarks, including “Free Palestine” chants. Kraft told Sheeran that Macklemore would not perform there.

No statement from Bryan, from Kraft, or from the stadium was included in the initial report. The images alone were enough to put the shirt, the slogan and the ownership of the building in the same frame.