Ed Sheeran said he questioned whether he “wanted to be an artist at all” as controversy over Macklemore’s removal from his world tour threatened its future.
Support acts and the backing band for the star’s current The Loop tour dropped out of the remaining dates after the US rapper, real name Benjamin Haggerty, was removed from the line-up following comments about the conflict in Gaza.
Performing for the first time since the incident unfolded, Sheeran told the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia: “I really didn’t know whether this tour would be carrying on.
“I really didn’t know whether I’d be even getting on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all.
“In these situations, you really find out who your friends are, and it’s been a weird week. I just feel like it happened very quickly.”
He opened the show admitting he had made “mistakes” and condemning the conflict in Gaza as “catastrophic” and “unjustifiable”.
The English singer said he had tried in the past not to be a “political commentator” because he wanted his shows to be about “unity”.
“I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore,” he said.
“What happened in Israel and at the Nova music festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.
“What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, children’s lives.
“And the systemic injustice we are seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”
Sheeran concluded the concert by saying: “The world is a scary place right now. America is a scary place right now. This gives hope.”
Ahead of the show, attendees said they were sticking by the musician.
James Webber IV from Scranton, Pennsylvania said: “I stand with Ed. I think there’s a time for politics and a music concert is not one of those places.”
Kassandra Rivera from Philadelphia said: “Everyone has their own opinion and it’s fine.
“I came here to have a good time and watch Ed Sheeran.
“I’ve been waiting a whole year to come and see him, so I’m excited to see the show.”
Dwayne Smith from Canada said: “We’re just here for Ed Sheeran. All politics aside, we just like the music. We are here to support him. It’s not about Palestine or Israel tonight, it’s just about the music for us.”
A small but vocal pro-Palestine protest was held outside the subway station that serves the stadium, several hundred metres from the venue.
Philadelphia resident Hillary Steinberg told the Associated Press she had received a refund for her tickets and decided to attend the protest instead.
She said: “I think all art is political, and all music is political, and so this choice — even though he was saying that he wasn’t complicit — is a political choice.”
The 35-year-old singer began his world tour in Auckland, New Zealand in January.
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.
Acts who dropped out of Sheeran’s tour include Irish singer Aaron Rowe, Grammy award-winning musician Finneas, who is Billie Eilish’s brother, and Danish singer Lukas Graham, and Sheeran’s backing band Beoga.
On Monday, Macklemore posted on Instagram claiming Sheeran and his team had “made the decision to remove” him from the Loop Tour.
During an earlier show at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the rapper said he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten.
Sheeran responded in a statement posted to Instagram on Tuesday, saying it was the promoter’s decision to remove the rapper from the tour, not his.
He said “upcoming tour dates had communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting”, and added that Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium where he was due to play, was among them.
The Shape Of You singer said he was “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine”, and added he respected Macklemore “as an artist”.
