{"id":630373,"date":"2026-09-20T10:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T10:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/630373\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T10:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T10:06:10","slug":"watch-ed-sheeran-calls-gaza-situation-catastrophic-and-unjustifiable-amid-macklemore-tour-row-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/630373\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Ed Sheeran calls Gaza situation \u2018catastrophic and unjustifiable\u2019 amid Macklemore tour row \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed Sheeran<\/a> said he questioned whether he \u201cwanted to be an artist at all\u201d as controversy over Macklemore\u2019s removal from his world tour threatened its future.<\/p>\n

Support acts and the backing band for the star\u2019s current The Loop tour dropped out of the remaining dates after the US<\/a> rapper, real name Benjamin Haggerty, was removed from the line-up following comments about the conflict in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Performing for the first time since the incident unfolded, Sheeran told the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia: \u201cI really didn\u2019t know whether this tour would be carrying on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really didn\u2019t know whether I\u2019d be even getting on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these situations, you really find out who your friends are, and it\u2019s been a weird week. I just feel like it happened very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He opened the show admitting he had made \u201cmistakes\u201d and condemning the conflict in Gaza as \u201ccatastrophic\u201d and \u201cunjustifiable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The English singer said he had tried in the past not to be a \u201cpolitical commentator\u201d because he wanted his shows to be about \u201cunity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot hide how I feel about it any more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened in Israel and at the Nova music festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.<\/p>\n

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

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

Sheeran concluded the concert by saying: \u201cThe world is a scary place right now. America is a scary place right now. This gives hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of the show, attendees said they were sticking by the musician.<\/p>\n

James Webber IV from Scranton, Pennsylvania said: \u201cI stand with Ed. I think there\u2019s a time for politics and a music concert is not one of those places.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We have skin in the game\u2019: TD backs \u2018half Irish\u2019 Macklemore after Sheeran ditchingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"EdEd Sheeran. Photograph: Gareth Cattermole\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Kassandra Rivera from Philadelphia said: \u201cEveryone has their own opinion and it\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came here to have a good time and watch Ed Sheeran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been waiting a whole year to come and see him, so I\u2019m excited to see the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dwayne Smith from Canada said: \u201cWe\u2019re just here for Ed Sheeran. All politics aside, we just like the music. We are here to support him. It\u2019s not about Palestine or Israel tonight, it\u2019s just about the music for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A small but vocal pro-Palestine protest was held outside the subway station that serves the stadium, several hundred metres from the venue.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia resident Hillary Steinberg told the Associated Press she had received a refund for her tickets and decided to attend the protest instead.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI think all art is political, and all music is political, and so this choice \u2013 even though he was saying that he wasn\u2019t complicit \u2013 is a political choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old singer began his world tour in Auckland, New Zealand in January.<\/p>\n

It is set to wrap up in Mexico City in December, with a total of 16 shows still scheduled across North and South America, after Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Acts who dropped out of Sheeran\u2019s tour include Irish singer Aaron Rowe, Grammy award-winning musician Finneas, who is Billie Eilish\u2019s brother, and Danish singer Lukas Graham, and Sheeran\u2019s backing band Beoga.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Macklemore posted on Instagram claiming Sheeran and his team had \u201cmade the decision to remove\u201d him from the Loop Tour.<\/p>\n

During an earlier show at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the rapper said he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten.<\/p>\n

Sheeran responded in a statement posted to Instagram on Tuesday, saying it was the promoter\u2019s decision to remove the rapper from the tour, not his.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cupcoming tour dates had communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting\u201d, and added that Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium where he was due to play, was among them.<\/p>\n

The Shape of You singer said he was \u201cappalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine\u201d, and added he respected Macklemore \u201cas an artist\u201d. \u2013 PA<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018A maelstrom of his own making\u2019: how Ed Sheeran\u2019s tour turned into a moment of reckoningOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran said he questioned whether he \u201cwanted to be an artist at all\u201d as controversy over Macklemore\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8720,93,3409,4502,61,60,3410,90],"class_list":["post-630373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ed-sheeran","tag-entertainment","tag-gaza-strip","tag-hamas","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}