{"id":290145,"date":"2026-09-20T06:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T06:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/290145\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T06:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T06:36:14","slug":"what-ed-sheeran-told-fans-before-playing-a-single-song-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/290145\/","title":{"rendered":"What Ed Sheeran told fans before playing a single song in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed Sheeran used the opening moments of his Philadelphia concert Saturday night to address a growing controversy that has followed his U.S. tour and explain why he felt he could no longer stay silent. According to reports from USA TODAY<\/a> and Variety<\/a>, the singer spoke candidly to fans before launching into his set at Lincoln Financial Field.<\/p>\n

Sheeran told the crowd that the past week<\/a> had been one of the most difficult periods of his career. He said he had been forced to make tough decisions and acknowledged that he may not have handled everything perfectly, offering an apology to fans.<\/p>\n

The controversy began after rapper Macklemore, one of Sheeran’s opening acts, made pro-Palestinian remarks<\/a> during recent tour stops at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Those comments sparked criticism from some groups and eventually led to Macklemore being removed from the remaining dates of the tour.<\/p>\n

Speaking directly to fans<\/a> in Philadelphia, Sheeran said he never intended to become a political voice and has always wanted his concerts to be places where people from different backgrounds could come together. He explained that he believes music should create connection rather than division.<\/p>\n

Still, Sheeran said the conflict between Israel and Hamas has become impossible for him to ignore. During his remarks<\/a>, he described the Oct. 7 attack in Israel as horrific and said the suffering of civilians in Gaza has been heartbreaking to watch. He called the humanitarian crisis devastating and expressed concern about the loss of innocent lives.<\/p>\n

The singer also addressed concerns<\/a> about free speech after Macklemore’s removal from the tour. Sheeran said he worries about venues or outside groups influencing what performers can say onstage, adding that artists should be able to express themselves freely.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia show looked different than a typical stop on Sheeran’s Loop Tour. Macklemore and several other support acts were no longer scheduled to perform, and members of Sheeran’s longtime backing group had also stepped away from the tour. Livemint reported<\/a> Sheeran introduced replacement musicians who had only a few days to prepare for the show.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Read the original article on MassLive<\/a>. Add MassLive<\/a> as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran used the opening moments of his Philadelphia concert Saturday night to address a growing controversy that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[119892,8625,119893,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-290145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-ed-sheeran","tag-lincoln-financial-field","tag-macklemore","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}