Ed Sheeran questioned ‘whether I’d be getting on stage again’ following Macklemore row
The singer told his fans in Philadelphia that he 'didn’t know whether this tour would be carrying on'
Ed Sheeran told an audience on Saturday night that he considered quitting the music industry when his supports acts left his world tour over a Palestinian activism dispute.
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The English musician’s world tour became mired in controversy after his support act, American rapper Macklemore, was pulled from shows after leading a “Free Palestine” chant on stage.
Sheeran’s other support acts and live band then departed the Loop tour in solidarity, leaving the singer to perform solo on Saturday night.
“I really didn’t know whether this tour would be carrying on,” the A Team singer told the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
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“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,” said Sheeran.
While fans still came out in force for the singer, a Free Palestine protest was also held outside of the Philadelphia stadium on Saturday night.
The 35-year-old singer began his world tour in Auckland, New Zealand in January.
The tour is set to end in Mexico City in December, with a total of 16 shows still scheduled across North and South America, after Philadelphia.
Artists 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, real name Benjamin Haggerty, posted on Instagram claiming Sheeran and his team had “made the decision to remove” him from the Loop Tour after the rapper made comments about Palestine at a show in New Jersey.
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”.
He also clarified his personal stance on the conflict on Saturday, saying: “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.”