FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft celebrated his 80th birthday on Sunday, with some of his celebrity friends surprising him with an unexpected gift — a sparkling new Bentley.
Rapper Meek Mill posted a video on his Instagram account of a stunned Kraft receiving the car. Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin, the chairman of Fanatics, contributed to the gift, as did Jay-Z, among others.
All have worked together in creating the Reform Alliance, which since its inception in 2019 aims to transform probation and parole in the United States.
In the video posted on Instagram, Kraft put both hands on his head after first seeing the car, and said “Oh my God!” He had apparently been hoping to buy a Bentley, but seemingly wasn’t able to find the car he was looking for, which led to his surprise.
“How did you get it?” Kraft asked Rubin.
Kraft was then told the car had been delivered on a flatbed from Florida.
Kraft’s connection to Mill is well documented. He met him through Rubin, visited the rapper in prison in 2018 and then spoke publicly on Mill’s behalf that his sentence was unfair and reflective of a broken criminal justice system.
“It makes it clear to me that we have to do something with criminal justice reform,” Kraft said at the time. “His kind of case, in a situation like this, it’s really bad. I know some of our players in the NFL have talked about this and I see it firsthand; it’s just wrong. We have to find a way to correct it.”
After the Patriots won Super Bowl LIII over the Los Angeles Rams, Kraft wore a thick gold chain at the victory parade that was gifted to him by Mill.