Country Star Zach Bryan Wore "Free Palestine" at Robert Kraft's Stadium.

The Jimmy Dore Show

The episode primarily examines country star Zach Bryan's defiant display of pro-Palestinian solidarity at Gillette Stadium, contrasting his unapologetic stance with Ed Sheeran's previous controversy and highlighting the

Key takeaways

• Zach Bryan wore a "Free Palestine" shirt at Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium, breaking attendance records and defying the owner's prior ban on pro-Palestinian performers like Macklemore.
• The hosts compare Bryan's defiance to Ed Sheeran's controversy, arguing that suppression attempts trigger the Streisand effect and amplify the message rather than silence it.

Main topics

• Zach Bryan pro-Palestinian stadium performance
• Ed Sheeran and Macklemore controversy

Notable quotes

"When you try to suppress coverage of something and it actually sparks way more interest in it that would have happened normally. And that's exactly what happened with Macklemore."

Conclusion

The episode delivers a multi-pronged critique of media manipulation, corp

Transcript preview

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That's AvocadoGreenMattress.com. AvocadoGreenMattress.com. Speaker 8 (1:02) Hey, come see me October 10th, a live Jimmy Dore show with a celebrity panel on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. Then we're going to Rutherford, New Jersey, Atlantic City, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Cincinnati. Go to JimmyDore.com for a link for tickets. Speaker 3 (1:28) The media. and jumps the medium and hits them head on. It's the Jimmy Dore Show. Speaker 1 (1:39) I've never heard of this guy because I'm out of touch. It's not that this guy's not popular. Obviously, he's playing stadiums. He's super popular and famous. And he's got a real kick-ass kind of a rock and roll spirit, even though he's a country guy. Speaker 1 (1:56) U.S. country music star Zach Bryan. Speaker 1 (2:00) You know, my usual advice on this is you never trust somebody with two first names. But I guess we could make an exception with Zach Bryan. He wore a Free Palestine T-shirt while performing at Gillette Stadium. That's the one that Ed Sheeran had all the problem with because Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner, made him kick Macklemore off the tour because he was saying Free Palestine. And which was the biggest mistake they could have. Nothing brought more attention to the free Palestine thing and the control by Jewish Zionists over our media and our discourse and government than that. It's called the Streisand effect. And the Streisand effect comes from when Barbra Streisand was having a wedding, I think, and she tried to ban all media. Speaker 1 (2:53) It just made everybody more interested because then people were flying up top and taking video and pictures of it. And that became the story. And so that's now referred to as the Streisand effect. When you try to when you try to suppress coverage of something and it actually sparks way more interest in it that would have happened normally. And that's exactly what happened with Macklemore. and Ed Sheeran and Kraft and trying to suppress and squelch free Palestine. If you'd have just said nothing, nobody would have noticed. Or few people would have. But now it became a worldwide sensation and a news story. And now this makes news. And so he wore his. Speaker 1 (3:40) So he wore his Free Palestine shirt at Kraft Stadium, which is kind of like flying Crips colors in a Bloods territory in Los Angeles. Am I right? The pro-Israel billionaire Robert Kraft recently prevented Macklemore from performing there and Ed Sheeran's tour over his. And then, you know, Ed Sheeran's is every one of his opening acts quit because of it. And even his own band quit. And Ed Sheeran's like, I'm sorry. And then I'm sorry for saying I'm sorry. Remember that? So this is this is good news. So good for this guy, Zach Bryan. He's ballsy. Speaker 1 (4:20) I see, I saw Dude Dissonance coverage of this, and they said he had, they said they're more into, Keaton does a music show, so he knows more about it. And he said that he's got a real rock and roll attitude, which I have to agree with. I have to agree with. Speaker 1 (4:38) There it is, Free Palestine. At Kraft Stadium. Speaker 4 (4:43) Well, I remember when the Dixie Chicks, you remember they were very anti-war, I think. Yes, they Speaker 1 (4:48) were anti-Iraq war. Speaker 4 (4:49) Yes. And they were told, Speaker 1 (4:51) shut up and sing. Speaker 4 (4:52) Yeah, especially by country music fans at that time. When you had Toby Keith in the lyrics, what was it? Put a boot in their ass, it's the American way. Right. So, country music. It's come a long way. And then Speaker 1 (5:07) there was another country star. He said he had a song. I will proudly stand up and defend her faithfully because I love this land. And it's like, well, now you got your chance. Why aren't you enlisting? Go stand up. Yeah. Oh, you're not going to do that, you mean? Oh, you were just lying then? Okay. So I guess here's a little bit of it. Here's a little bit. Let's see if we can play a little bit of this. Speaker 1 (5:35) It is the problem. Speaker 1 (5:48) I can't really hear the music much. Speaker 1 (5:52) Because, you know, stadiums is how music is supposed to be presented. In outdoor, open-air stadiums without a roof, that's the best way to do music. Everybody knows it. It's so intimate. It's the way you experience music. I would never go to a concert at a stadium, ever. Speaker 1 (6:12) Check that, I did. Speaker 5 (6:14) Yes. Speaker 6 (6:15) I Speaker 5 (6:15) went to Speaker 1 (6:16) see Bob Dylan at a stadium. It was the Duck Pond, they call it. That's where the Mighty Ducks play. Speaker 6 (6:21) I think you also saw Lilith Fair. Speaker 1 (6:23) I saw Bruce Springsteen play there also. So I saw Bruce Springsteen play, and little did I know he would soon turn into what we refer to in the business as a shit lib. And I did go to Lilith Fair with a girlfriend of mine. I Speaker 4 (6:42) did too. Speaker 1 (6:43) Not with your Speaker 4 (6:44) girlfriend, but. Speaker 1 (6:45) No, but was that a stadium? Maybe it was. I Speaker 4 (6:48) went in San Francisco. Was Speaker 1 (6:49) it at the Rose Bowl? Speaker 7 (6:51) That's a stadium. Speaker 1 (6:53) I don't know. Yeah, I think it might have been. Lilith Fair was a little too girly for me, but I did like Joan Jett in the whatever she played. She was great. That was my favorite. Sarah McLachlan saying snooze. Speaker 4 (7:12) She's a real uplifting. Speaker 1 (7:14) Yeah, but I did like Joan Jett. Country music star Zach wore a Free Palestine T-shirt during a performance on Friday night and was widely interpreted as a gesture of defiance, you think? Speaker 5 (7:27) Against Speaker 1 (7:28) the pro-Israel owner Robert Kraft weeks earlier, so we know that. Okay. Shirin, one of the world's most recognizable pop stars, hello, punky, was branded a spineless coward by Speaker 6 (7:42) many critics and faced a mutiny. Yeah, we know that. Sharon's vague statement denying that he was complicit with Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 74,000 people. Now, there's been the woman in charge at the U.N. said that it was over 600,000 Speaker 1 (8:02) people, which is the number I think is more accurate. They don't know how many people have been killed because most of them are underneath rubble. Speaker 1 (8:10) and over 21,000 children over nearly three years. I'm sure it's much more than that. Speaker 1 (8:19) So come on down to Ed Sheeran's Kia and test drive a car of your dreams. Speaker 7 (8:26) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Speaker 1 (8:30) In sharp contrast, this guy, Zach Bryan, and his bandmate, made their position clear as they performed before a sold-out crowd at Foxborough, Massachusetts on Friday. Drummer Nate Head. Speaker 5 (8:47) wore Speaker 1 (8:48) a cream-colored Palestine baseball jersey bearing the name Hind Rehob. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. And the number five on the back, it's a reference to a five-year-old Palestinian girl that was killed by Israeli forces in 2024. Macklemore had similarly referenced Rehob in the song that led to his band. Oh, no kidding. And so here's that drummer. There it is. That's that little girl's name on the back. Isn't that nice? With the number five. And here he is ending a song. Let's watch. Speaker 1 (9:28) Nice job! Way to go. Speaker 4 (9:31) Little girl in the car, right? I Speaker 1 (9:33) think that was a little girl in the car and they shot like 300 bullets. Yeah. Speaker 4 (9:37) Very Speaker 1 (9:37) sad story. Guitarist Noah LaGrosse wore a green Palestine jersey on stage after the show. He posted a photo of himself wearing the jersey in front of a Kraft Sports and Entertainment sign, making the message unmistakable. Brian, who served eight years. Oh, did you know this? He served eight years in the U.S. Navy. Speaker 5 (9:58) No. Speaker 1 (9:59) He has a history of taking political stances that run counter to the conservatism long associated with mainstream country music. I think he has a, I think, correct, check it out, he has a trans member of his band. Speaker 1 (10:13) Which again, I got no problem with trans. I got no problem with cross-dressers. I just have a problem with cross-dressers trying to force me to call them ma'am. I'll do it. But it's still when, again, if you put on a dress and you look like you're about to carry a refrigerator up three flights of stairs, it's funny. It's always been funny. It will always be funny. That's no slam to them. Speaker 1 (10:41) Maybe, I guess it is maybe. I don't know. I don't mean it as one. I just mean it. It's like you Speaker 7 (10:44) can't get around it. Um. Speaker 7 (10:50) And all I got to say is, what kind of monster are we dealing with? Speaker 7 (10:57) That a shirt honoring a dead child is controversial. Speaker 1 (11:02) Isn't that wild that a shirt honoring a dead child killed in a quote unquote war is controversial? Speaker 4 (11:12) That hurts Israelis' feelings. It Speaker 1 (11:13) does. What a monster that guy is. Speaker 1 (11:18) That guy served eight years in the Navy. So I guess there's anybody. Who's got the bona fides to make this statement? It's Zach Bryan. He has defended. Oh, there it is. He has defended transgender people against public attacks. Again, again, no problem with transgendered people. I had on that Blair White on the show. uh the kind of it's like there's a difference between being an authentic trans person and then being a overly aggressive hostile obnoxious cross-dresser And I got no problem with cross-dressers either. It's just the overly hostile and obnoxious ones who want to insert biological males into women's spaces, right? Speaker 1 (12:01) So I think you can have nuance to this conversation is what I'm saying. We have trans fans at this Jimmy Dore show. They come to the shows. A lot of them, guess what? You'd be surprised. A lot of them pack heat. And I'm not talking about. Speaker 4 (12:15) I mean, guns. I'm Speaker 1 (12:16) talking about handguns. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not talking about this is my rifle. This is my gun. This is for fighting. This is for fun. I'm not talking about that. Speaker 4 (12:26) Well, and these activists are also often not trans. They're just. They're Speaker 1 (12:32) just dudes who like to cross dress. They have a fetish, which is fine. Have the fetish. But Speaker 4 (12:36) I mean, a lot of the activists are just hopping on the bandwagon to. To yell at white men. Yeah. Speaker 1 (12:42) White men are, come on. Cis Speaker 4 (12:44) people. Speaker 1 (12:44) I will, I reject the term that I'm cisgendered. I'm not. I remember the first time a guy used it on this show and I was like, what? I didn't even know what he was talking about. Speaker 4 (12:55) Right? Yeah. Speaker 1 (12:56) It was that guy who I like who was, who stood up against Nike. Anyway, he also wrote lyrics criticizing ICE. Deportation tactics. So this guy's a real rebel. That's like. And as Keaton Speaker 8 (13:12) said... Um... That he just has the attitude of I don't give an F, you know, which is very attractive. Which is which is very attractive. And that's very rock and roll. Right. I don't give an F. But the I remember everything singer does not map Speaker 1 (13:32) cleanly on either side of the political spectrum. Look at that. Sounds like a Jimmy Dore. He's the Jimmy Dore of country music. I'm the Jimmy Dore of comedy. Speaker 1 (13:45) Uh, in the past, he has described himself as a total libertarian and more recently stressed political unity. Sounds like a Jimmy Dore. Left wing or right wing, we're all one bird and American. Woo! And I'm proud to be an American. Well, at least I know I'm free. Speaker 1 (14:07) Brian has not yet publicly commented on what he intended to convey with his shirt on Friday night. I don't think it's a Rubik's Cube. Oh, what does he mean? What does he mean? Speaker 1 (14:20) Nor has Kraft, who previously referred to pro-Palestinian comments on his stages. Hate speech. Yank. Yank. Publicly responded to. He hasn't responded yet because I think he knows he