{"id":898458,"date":"2026-09-20T03:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T03:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898458\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T03:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T03:22:17","slug":"ed-sheeran-ed-sheeran-admits-he-made-mistakes-over-macklemore-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898458\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran: Ed Sheeran admits he \u2018made mistakes\u2019 over Macklemore controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed Sheeran<\/a> has admitted he \u201cmade mistakes\u201d at his first show since controversy erupted surrounding Macklemore<\/a> being dropped from his tour over his on-stage support for Palestine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sheeran\u2019s concert at Philadelphia\u2019s Lincoln Financial Field is his first since the controversy<\/a>, which saw every opening act on the tour publicly declare that they would be dropping out, forcing Sheeran to go ahead as the only performer on the line-up. <\/p>\n

\"Ed<\/p>\n

Fans are demanding ticket refunds, after Macklemore was dropped from the Loop Tour and all support acts pulling out. \u00a0Getty\/Theo Wargo<\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted to be an activist musician but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about free speech and the most complex political issue on the planet,\u201d Sheeran said. <\/p>\n

He admitted to making \u201cmistakes\u201d whilst grappling with \u201cdifficult decisions\u201d and said that he is committed to his concerts being \u201ca safe space for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports from attendees say that there were a number of empty seats in the stadium, with tickets for the show being resold for as little as $45. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I want to address the question of where I stand in the situation in Israel and Palestine and whether my doing this concert here tonight implies where I stand,\u201d Sheeran continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind because I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division; about humanity, not politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is a humanitarian issue and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore. What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable of this proportion. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians\u2019 lives, of children\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the systemic injustice we\u2019re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked. I am 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ed Sheeran fought back tears as he thanked fans for their support.\u00a0Instagram\/teddysphotos<\/p>\n

Sheeran began to tear up as he thanked fans who had showed up, saying his concerts are a place where all are welcome. <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone here can stand beside people that have opposing views, and everyone here can stand by people that they don\u2019t agree with on everything, but they can all agree on singing these songs. And these songs are about love, hope and unity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A few hours ahead of the show around 100 pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside the stadium. <\/p>\n

Jodi Rhoden, an attendee and organiser at Writers Against the War in Gaza told Variety<\/a> the protest is \u201cmuch bigger than Ed Sheeran\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Protesters have gathered outside Lincoln Financial Field ahead of Ed Sheeran\u2019s concert.\u00a0Allie Ippolito<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a movement for Palestinian lives, and it\u2019s not going to stop until Palestine is free,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see that with the way that Ed Sheeran fans are reacting, and the way that people are rallying behind that for more. It seems like we\u2019ve really hit a tipping point, and public opinion has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macklemore opened for two of Brit Sheeran\u2019s New Jersey shows in September, where he performed his 2024 pro-Palestinian protest song Hind\u2019s Hall and called for a \u201cFree Palestine\u201d as he displayed footage from Gaza. <\/p>\n

Within days it was announced that Macklemore would no longer be opening for Sheeran on the remaining dates of the tour, with reports that several stadiums had said they would not allow the concerts to proceed with Macklemore on the line-up. <\/p>\n

\"MELBOURNE,<\/p>\n

Macklemore performed at two shows of Sheeran\u2019s tour, before it was announced that he would not be joining for the remaining dates.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Macklemore later claimed that New England Patriot\u2019s owner, Robert Kraft, was behind the decision. <\/p>\n

Kraft owns Gillette Stadium where the rapper was scheduled to open for Sheeran on September 25 and 26. <\/p>\n

Macklemore alleged that Kraft rallied other stadium owners to threaten to cancel tour dates if he wasn\u2019t dropped from the lineup.<\/p>\n

Sheeran made a statement claiming that the decision to remove Macklemore from the tour was made by the tour promoter and venues, with him having no say in the decision. <\/p>\n

\"LAS<\/p>\n

The pair had been friends for more than a decade, even releasing a song together in 2015.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

One by one, Sheeran\u2019s other tour openers announced that they had chosen to drop out of the tour, with Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe, and Sheeran\u2019s backing band Beoga all showing support for Macklemore and Palestine<\/p>\n

The start time of Sheeran\u2019s first show following the controversy was pushed from 5.30pm to 8pm, with no opening acts on the line-up. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran has admitted he \u201cmade mistakes\u201d at his first show since controversy erupted surrounding Macklemore being dropped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-898458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}