‘I'm so, so sorry’: Ed Sheeran addresses Gaza on stage after losing every opening act

About a week after the widespread international backlash for dropping his pro-Palestinian support act, Ed Sheeran made his first public comments on stage, apologising to fans and saying that what Israel is doing in Gaza is "unjustifiable". Last week, American rapper Macklemore announced online that he had been removed from Sheeran's Loop Tour, which is due to stop at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Sheeran has shows on 25 and 26 September. Macklemore was to open for Sheeran, but the stadium's owner, Robert Kraft, wanted him removed over his pro-Palestine speeches on stage, threatening to cancel Sheeran's stadium concerts if he stayed, and lobbying other stadium owners to join him in applying pressure. "I've had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I'm so, so sorry," Sheeran told his audience in Philadelphia, where he performed for the first time since Macklemore was taken off the tour. Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the venue hours before Sheeran's concert was due to start. At the start of the concert at Lincoln Financial Field, Sheeran called Israel's war on Gaza "catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate". According to US media reports, the start time of Sheeran's concert was pushed back by two and a half hours because of the withdrawal of all the opening acts, and Sheeran performed solo. Read more: ‘I'm so, so sorry’: Ed Sheeran addresses Gaza on stage after losing every opening act Demonstrators protest outside of Ed Sheeran concert on 19 September 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Joe Lamberti/Getty Images/AFP)