Crooner Ed Sheeran called Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza \u201cunjustifiable\u201d as he wept and broke his silence during his first concert since booting rapper Macklemore from his tour for tirades against the Jewish state.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve 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,\u201d Sheeran told the Philly crowd of concertgoers Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Sheeran spoke multiple times about the controversy during Saturday night\u2019s show at Lincoln Financial Field<\/a>,\u00a0growing progressively more upset as the night wore on and eventually telling fans it had been one of the \u201cworst weeks of his life\u201d and that \u201cI really didn\u2019t know whether I\u2019d be even get on stage again, whether I wanted to be an artist at all.\u201d<\/p>\n At the start of the show, before playing any music, he zeroed on his feelings about the Gaza War, criticizing both Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n \u00a0\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,\u201d Sheeran said, apparently reading from a teleprompter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut this is a humanitarian issue. I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore. What happened in Israel, and at the music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain,\u201d he said as he broke down in tears.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilian life and loss of children\u2019s lives. And the systemic injustice we\u2019re seeing unfolding the West Bank cannot be overlooked,\u201d the singer-songwriter said.<\/p>\n He also said the he was used to his music being criticized but said \u201cthis week the criticism was about something much more important, and I\u2019ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I\u2019m so, so sorry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He later shared that his first concert back \u201cis not the usual \u2018Loop\u2019 show\u201d as he was fearful of how the crowd would react after Macklemore\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n Ed Sheeran returned to his tour during a stop at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Lone Pine press for NYPost<\/p>\n Sheeran gave a brief intro before going into his regular set on the \u201cLOOP tour\u201d Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cI usually go out to a B stage and I\u2019m going to be totally honest with you, I didn\u2019t know what this audience would be like tonight,\u201d Sheeran said, adding, \u201cI didn\u2019t know if I would have things thrown at me.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheeran confirmed he will be continuing \u201cThe Loop\u201d tour despite all of his opening acts \u2014 including his backing band \u2014 dropping out since Macklemore received the boot.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHonoring my commitment to my fans is also completely central to who I am. And that is why I\u2019m here tonight, on my own,\u201d he said, receiving a roaring applause.<\/p>\n Sheeran\u2019s troubles began last week when his support act, Macklemore, went on a rant at Metlife Stadium. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n Sheeran performs at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cI am deeply worried about the idea that venues should pre-approved content of performance,\u201d the singer said, adding \u201cthis happens in so many places that I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheeran said without concerts bringing people together, \u201cthe world is heading to a very, very, very dark place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we get too divided\u2026we need to come back to humanity, realize that we are all the same, and we understand each other,\u201d Sheeran said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had a week of learning,\u201d he said smiling.\u00a0<\/p>\n After finishing his opening talk, he received applause from the crowd<\/a>, which appeared to not fill the football stadium. He then broke into his song \u201cCastle on the Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheeran\u2019s opening acts and backing band quit after Macklemore was removed from the tour. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n Sheeran brought out a new group of musicians to fill in for his backing band, which quit over Macklemore, including violinist Alicia Enstrom who played \u201cGalway Girl\u201d alongside the singer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen my friends dropped out of this show, I was thinking, \u2018how am I going to keep the show the same? And how am I going to get musicians to stand on stage with me in a week where no one wants to stand on stage?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He said the musicians had three days to learn the setlist and praised their bravery for standing alongside him during the barrage of hateful criticism he\u2019s received recently.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I just want to say, before they come on stage, they said yes to being on stage with the knowledge that the world thought I was a certain type of person,\u201d Sheeran said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pro-Palestinian protesters gather on the corner of Broad Street and Pattinson Avenue to protest Ed Sheeran\u2019s performance at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. Lone Pine press for NYPost<\/p>\n \u201cThey said yes with the knowledge that the world may hate them too for standing on stage with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Toward the end he began crying again and sat down at the edge of the stage telling the crowd that after the turmoil of the past week, \u201cin these situations, you really find out who your friends are.\u201d<\/p>\n He then added: \u201cI have so many people telling me to cancel this tour and so many people falling out of my life that I\u2019ve known for years and years and years, people just kind of backing away\u2026 \u00a0And then, you know, I\u2019m there, and everyone\u2019s telling me to cancel, and I\u2019m feeling my friends and family, and people I know abandoned me.\u201d<\/p>\n But he said one thought keep him going: \u201cIf this tour ends, love doesn\u2019t win.\u201d<\/p>\n He even said sorry for his speech at the start. <\/p>\n \u201cThe one thing that I would like to apologize for is the first bit of the show where it wasn\u2019t about music, and I had to talk,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cI understand that people have children\u2026 \u00a0but that was something I felt like I needed to say\u2026\u00a0So all the parents that brought their kids tonight, thank you so much for bringing them, and I do apologize for the first part of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n Some fans at the show praised the comments, which came after a week of turmoil, which saw all of Sheeran\u2019s opening acts quit<\/a> when he dropped Macklemore from the show after pressure from venue operators who objected to him saying \u201cFree Palestine\u201d<\/a> during earlier appearances in the tour.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was put in a tough spot. I am proud of him for finally speaking his mind. We are all human and I think it would have hurt more overall if he ignored all together,\u201d attendee Bryan Prevette told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe ripped the bandaid off,\u201d Prevette, who lives in Maryland said of Sheeran\u2019s statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWas there any other [way] to do it? He had to address the elephant in the room,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n David, a concertgoer from Salt Lake City agreed and thought Sheeran \u201cdid great.\u201d<\/p>\n The crowd during Sheeran\u2019s show at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s [a] touchy subject. I thought what he said was unifying,\u201d he told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n Macklemore was let go from the tour after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft barred the rapper from performing at Gillette Stadium over his comments. He was also barred from a series of other stadiums around the country.<\/p>\n Jewish singer Pink spoke out against the \u201cThrift Shop\u201d rapper, and slammed him for a 2014 incident in which he played a concert dressed as an antisemitic caricature of a Jewish person.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crooner Ed Sheeran called Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza \u201cunjustifiable\u201d as he wept and broke his silence during his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29116,157,131290,9,11,10,115775],"class_list":["post-351552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-ed-sheeran","tag-entertainment","tag-macklemore","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-robert-kraft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}