Ed Sheeran has admitted to making “mistakes” over Macklemore being dropped from his ‘Loop’ tour due to his pro-Palestine comments, and revealed that the subsequent controversy left him questioning whether he wanted “to be an artist at all”.
The singer addressed the row extensively during his live return at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field last night (September 19), taking to the stage after all of his support acts and backing band had withdrawn from the tour.
At the beginning of the show, Sheeran acknowledged the criticism he had received over the past week.
“I’m used to my music being criticised, and I’m always happy to take that because I’m lucky a lot of you like my stuff, and to be honest, I’m surprised,” he told the crowd. “I’m not surprised that other people don’t. It’s normal.
“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.”
Sheeran went on to say that the controversy had placed him in a position he had long sought to avoid.
“I don’t want to disappoint fans, and I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet,” he said.
