Ed Sheeran made his return to the stage following last week’s backlash that saw his supporting acts as well as his own backing band quit his tour, after Macklemore was dropped for showing his support for a free Palestine.
While there was uncertainty over whether Sheeran would finish the North American leg of his Loop Tour, on Saturday night (September 19) at the Lincoln Financial Field stadium in Philadelphia, PA, he addressed the controversy and apologized to his fans.
“I’m used to my music being criticized,” Sheeran said, reading from a teleprompter to the 50,000-plus crowd. “But this week, the criticism was about something much more important, and I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so, so sorry.”
Prior to the concert, a large group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a rally outside the stadium waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free, free Palestine.”
Sheeran spoke about the situation in Gaza, saying, “My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives. And the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”
He also addressed the criticism from the venues that led to pressuring him and his team to remove Macklemore from the tour.
“I am deeply worried about the idea that venues could pre-approve content and performance,” he said. “This happens in so many places that I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world.”
Sheeran appeared to get emotional, explaining that he never wanted to be “an activist musician,” but that this recent controversy has placed him “in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.”
Later on, before finishing the concert, Sheeran shared that this whole experience had him questioning everything, from finishing the tour to continuing on with his music.
“I really didn’t know whether this tour would carry on, I really didn’t know whether I’d get on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all,” he said, before telling the stadium that it had been “the best show of my life.”
Watch his comments below (via Sky News).