U.S. House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blasted Patriots Owner Robert Kraft on Tuesday, accusing him of “lining up all of the stadiums” in an effort to “censor” rapper Macklemore due to his criticisms of Israel.
Kraft moved to block Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. However, no one knows exactly what role Kraft played in “lining up” other stadium owners to block Macklemore from performing at other venues. That didn’t stop the congresswoman frequently known as AOC from expounding upon the internet rumors and accusing the legendary NFL executive of orchestrating a boycott to block the rapper from accusing Israel of genocide at all stadiums on the upcoming Ed Sheeran tour.
“You see what Robert Kraft did to line up all of the stadium [owners] to censor speech in that one specific way; it’s become clear this is not just about one music artist or two music artists,” AOC told TMZ.
“This is about how just a handful of stadium owners and the elites could prevent an entire massive issue like the genocide in Gaza [from being discussed].
“It doesn’t stop there; it could be speaking about AI or any issue. You can just get a handful of stadium owners to ensure that an entire person’s career can be jeopardized if they speak out about any issues.”
Kraft, who is Jewish, has become a highly visible leader of campaigns to end antisemitism.
Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he would not want a rapper known for accusing Israel of atrocities to use his stadium as a platform.
The words “his stadium” are important in the sentence above.
Gillette Stadium is a privately financed and privately owned venue through Kraft Sports + Entertainment, a division of the Kraft Group, whose chairman is Robert Kraft.
In fact, Gillette is one of the very few stadiums financed with no public money.
Even if AOC wanted to venture out on the very thin limb of suggesting that publicly financed stadiums shouldn’t be in the business of banning performers over speech, she wouldn’t be able to use that argument in the case of Kraft since he personally owns the land, parking lots, and surrounding infrastructure of the Foxborough-based arena.
Not to mention that neither the U.S. Constitution nor Massachusetts state law prohibits a private citizen from refusing to allow a performer to perform on his property for ideological reasons.
In addition, as OutKick’s Armando Salguero points out, while AOC accuses Kraft of censorship and overriding performers’ free-speech rights, her “solution” is actually a greater violation of personal rights.
“If we live in a country where a Jewish man must open his business to obscene anti-Jewish lunatics spewing lies and hate, then how long before Black business owners must serve customers who are openly and verbally racist at their place of business?” Salguero wrote.
Sheeran is trying to salvage what remains of the list of scheduled performers on his tour, as growing calls for solidarity with Macklemore have prompted some to cancel their planned appearances.
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