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Jon Lovett
Role at the time: Host of the podcast Lovett or Leave It, in a scripted comedic monologue
Statement summary
In a satirical monologue, Jon Lovett attacked Robert Kraft’s role in pressing for Macklemore’s removal, speaking as a Jewish American, and separately called Ed Sheeran’s statement “embarrassing.” He treated Macklemore’s “Free Palestine” remark as unobjectionable.
“And as a Jewish American myself, thank you, Robert Kraft. The best way to fight anti-Semitism is for a Jewish billionaire to join forces with a cabal of other wealthy stadium operators to prevent audiences from hearing a pro-Palestinian statement by a performer largely regarded until now as a brand-safe version of f---ing Eminem.”
Weekly comedy and politics podcast, published 18 September 2026, running 1:03:42, with Hasan Piker as the interview guest. The opening monologue is satirical; the Piker interview is straightforward. The quoted wording is our transcription of the video audio. The episode’s own chapter markers identify the Macklemore and Ed Sheeran segment and the Piker interview.
Why we used this label
On Macklemore’s conduct in giving the speech, Lovett does not criticise Macklemore at all. His attack is directed at Robert Kraft, whom he holds responsible for pressing for the removal, and at Ed Sheeran, whose statement he calls embarrassing. Treating the “Free Palestine” remark as unobjectionable while condemning those who acted against it is an implicit defence of Macklemore’s conduct, which is how this case classifies statements of that shape. The passage is sarcastic: he thanks Kraft in order to attack him, and the record should not be read as praise.