Ed Sheeran says Gaza situation ‘unjustifiable’ amid ongoing outcry over Macklemore’s ouster

PHILADELPHIA — Ed Sheeran opened a concert on Saturday with comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, amid widespread backlash against the pop star after his opener, the rapper Macklemore, was dropped from the tour for making anti-Israel comments during his performances.

Sheeran began the concert alone on stage with no opener, but was joined by other musicians later in the show. He told fans that the controversy surrounding the tour “was about something much more important” than his music.

“I’ve had to take, and make, difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so, so sorry,” Sheeran said during the show at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

He continued, “I don’t want to disappoint fans, and I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.”

He then said he would “address the question of where I stand in the situation in Israel and Palestine,” though he said he did not want to be a political commentator or to focus his concerts on politics.

“What happened in Israel and at the Nova music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain,” he said, referring to the Hamas-led terror onslaught in 2023 that launched a multifront war.

The onslaught included the massacre at the music festival, where hundreds of attendees were killed and dozens taken hostage, amid rampant acts of sexual violence. In total, the Hamas invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people and saw 251 abducted to Gaza.

He then turned to speaking about the war against Hamas in Gaza that followed, which leveled much of the Strip and caused a humanitarian crisis. He also criticized the situation in the West Bank as unjust, without naming Israel.

“What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate. Our heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives,” Sheeran continued. “And the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”

Sheeran, who has reportedly pledged to donate $2 million to aid in the region, said he was “already speaking to people across the spectrum to work out how to make a contribution that helps victims of these terrible times and listening and learning because I do not know enough.”

The comments before a nearly full stadium came after a tumultuous stretch that began when Macklemore, Sheeran’s original US opener, exclaimed “Free Palestine” during a September 4 show in New Jersey, before launching into his anti-Israel anthem “Hind’s Hall.”

That performance, and a subsequent repeat, led pro-Israel activists to demand that Macklemore be booted from the tour. He was later removed at the urging of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a Jewish philanthropist who owns a stadium on Sheeran’s tour itinerary.

Kraft said the decision to cancel Macklemore was a result of his recent comments “and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.” The rapper has also been criticized for a 2014 performance in which he wore a costume that resembled an antisemitic caricature, for which he later apologized.

Sheeran had said on Tuesday that he was not responsible for the decision and said he would continue his tour so as not to “let down” his crews and fans. The Grammy winner added that his fans don’t come to his shows to hear about political issues.

Within hours of Sheeran’s statement Tuesday, his supporting acts withdrew in protest. He has faced significant blowback from critics who have accused him of not standing up for free speech or pro-Palestinian activism.

Sheeran has performed many songs solo during his Loop Tour concerts, but was previously joined for several songs at each stop by the Irish folk band Beoga before they dropped out in support of Macklemore.

Macklemore was replaced by Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish singer Aaron Rowe before they too backed out. Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother and musical collaborator, was due to tour with Sheeran in South America later this year but he also dropped out this week.

Before Saturday’s show, a small group of demonstrators congregated outside the stadium. Hillary Steinberg, 34, said she got concert tickets a year ago but wound up getting a refund and attended the demonstration instead, disappointed that Sheeran did not take a stand.

“I was, until this week, a big Ed Sheeran fan,” Steinberg said. “I think all art is political, and all music is political, and so this choice — even though he was saying that he wasn’t complicit — is a political choice.”

Diane Savitz, a 53-year-old from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, got tickets months ago and attended the show. She said she is a big Sheeran fan, doesn’t think he did anything wrong and that a concert is not the place for politics.

“A concert should be for people enjoying the music. Music should bring people together,” Savitz said. “Everyone has their right to freedom of speech, but not every platform is the place for it.”

Macklemore said Wednesday he is donating $1 million to support a range of Palestinian-focused aid groups and NGOs, and called on Kraft to match the gift. A spokesperson for Kraft has said the billionaire and Sheeran have each agreed to donate $2 million but have not specified where the money will be directed.

Sheeran’s representatives have not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Sheeran is the No. 3 top-earning concert act of the millennium so far, industry magazine Polestar calculated in late 2025. While promoters and venues wield great power over concert tours, experts say an artist of Sheeran’s magnitude generally has the final say about what happens concerning the shows.

Sheeran told the crowd in Philadelphia that everyone is welcome at his concerts, and they can have opposing points of view while still singing his songs, which are about “love, hope and unity.”

He also told fans he worries about venues pre-approving performances.

“This happens in so many places that I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world,” Sheeran said.