Ed Sheeran is accused of 'bowing to the mob' after addressing the Israel-Palestine controversy amid tour row

Ed Sheeran has been accused of 'bowing to the mob' after he apologised to fans on Saturday for his handling of an Israel-Palestine row that has threatened to wreck his tour.

The British pop star, 35, has faced fierce backlash after his Loop tour's opening act Macklemore was dropped over his pro-Palestine views.

Whilst on stage in Philadelphia on Saturday night, Sheeran read a statement from an autocue admitting to making 'mistakes' in his handling of the situation and backtracking on his previous vow not to bring politics to his show as he called the situation in Gaza 'catastrophic and unjustifiable' and Hamas's October 7 attacks 'horrific'. 

Reposting Sheeran's speech on X, Piers Morgan commented: 'I agree with Ed Sheeran's overview of the Israel/Hamas war (Oct 7 terrible, Israel response disproportionate) but I wish he hadn't bowed to the mob and felt forced to say it publicly, especially reading it off an autocue like some bullied puppet. He needs better advisors.' 

Meanwhile concertgoers outside the Philadelphia concert said the general feeling was a determination to enjoy the music.

On stage Sheeran said he had been convinced to continue with his tour after he saw an uptick in ticket sale, telling the crowd: 'I see 50,000 people who haven't abandoned me.'

Many agreed with Morgan, with one supporter posting: 'His PR people need to be fired. No reason for him to have to speak to that outside of a very small mob of loudmouths.'

'This dude simply wants to play and perform and has done so for years. He's a bigger idiot than he was last week. What a disgrace to bow to the mob.' 

Another X poster said that Sheeran use of a teleprompter 'is not proof he doesn't care.' 

'Ed is a singer. Not a politician. Not a news anchor. He does not spend his life rehearsing talking points on the most loaded conflict on the planet,' the comment continued.

'Asking him to speak off-the-cuff about Israel and Gaza in front of 50,000 people after a week that blew up his tour is not the same as asking him to sing 'Castle on the Hill.' Using a teleprompter here is not proof he doesn't care. It's proof he was scared of getting the words wrong on something this radioactive. There is a difference.'

'He just needs to be strong and say No I'm not getting bullied and dragged in by any side. He can walk away from this all and still have his music,' agreed another.

'To be fair, he was never going to 'win ' this regardless. What is shameful is that his 'guest' on tour and band threw him under the bus,' said one more.

A concertgoer speaking to the BBC outside the Philadelphia concert said 'there was a sentiment of determination to enjoy an evening of music while at the same time supporting freedom of speech.'

Reacting to Sheeran's remarks as they later left the venue, another fan said he had 'covered both sides nicely, and I think everyone leaves happy', while another called his speech 'very sincere, and I think that's what the people wanted to hear was sincerity'.

Sheeran said onstage that an uptick in ticket sales convinced him to continue on with the tour, despite calls to cancel the remaining dates. 'In the back of my mind, I saw the ticket sales and I didn't see the cancellations,' he told the crowd. 

'Everyone's telling me to cancel and I'm feeling all of my friends and family and people I know abandon me — and I look at the end of the week, and I see 50,000 people who haven't abandoned me.' 

Podcasters Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally criticised Sheeran's Instagram apology shared last week, saying 'he's really he's f**ked up badly as apologies go.'

'This is why people need publicists', McNally said on the latest episode of the duo's My Therapist Ghosted Me podcast.

'Do you know how many people would have been working on that statement?' Vogue added, before comparing the apology to when her eight-year-old son says sorry. 'I'm sorry you feel like this, but the the suggestion is I've done nothing wrong.'

'He didn't even put that thing through Chatgbt. They're selling out arenas in America. You're telling me the promoter is controlling everything and you're not. Get a grip, Edward.'

In a solemn speech at the start of Saturday's concert, Sheeran read off the autocue as he said: 'I have tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind because I want my music and shows to be about unity and not division, about humanity and not politics. But this is a humanitarian issue and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore.'

'What happened in Israel at 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,' Sheeran said in a video captured and shared online by a concertgoer.

'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 declared.

Sheeran told the audience that he plans to 'continue my current tour' despite each of his openers dropping out in solidarity with Macklemore.

Macklemore was removed from Ed's tour after US stadium owner Robert Kraft accused him of hate speech during previous support slots in which the rapper called for a 'free Palestine'.

But Kraft, who is Jewish, banned him from performing at his Gillette Stadium near Boston, sparking an Israel-Palestine row.

Sheeran struggled to hold back tears as he returned to the stage on Saturday, without his backing band and support acts.

Sheeran said he had 'found out who his friends are', adding: 'I cannot hide how I feel... any more.'

In his first stage appearance since the Loop tour was plunged into turmoil, the 35-year-old father of two said he 'never wanted to be an activist musician' but the fierce criticism meant he has had to 'take and make difficult decisions'.

He said: 'I really didn't know whether this tour would be carrying on. 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.

'In the back of my mind, I saw the ticket sales for this gig and I didn't see cancellations, I saw people buying tickets for this gig.

'Everyone's telling me to cancel and I'm feeling all of my friends and family and people I know abandon me.

'I look at the end of the week and I see 50,000 people who haven't abandoned me. People will say what they want, but I am doing this for you. I love you. I love this.'

Sheeran said his heart had been broken 'by the scale of devastation and loss of lives' and became emotional as he told a cheering crowd: 'I'm so grateful you are here with me tonight.'

He apologised and became visibly emotional again at the end of the show for bringing politics to his concert – something he had vowed not to do.

Sheeran said at the end of the night: 'The one thing that I would like to apologise for is the first bit of the show where it wasn't about music and I had to talk.

'I understand that people have children here and I understand that families didn't buy a ticket to hear that first bit of the show, but that was something I felt like I needed to say.'

By the end of the show, Sheeran broke down into tears, telling fans: 'I'm so grateful. The world is a scary place right now. America is a scary place right now. This gives hope. This gives hope.'

The crowd broke out in applause as Sheeran appeared deeply moved.

'My shows are about this,' he said. 'They are about people coming together that don't know each other, that have different beliefs. They're about unity. They're about love. They're about family.'

As fans cheered, Sheeran vowed that the controversy would not stop him from performing.

'You're jumping around like maniacs with each other and having fun,' he said. 'And I will never stop doing this. I will never stop doing this. I love doing this so much.'

At one point during the concert Sheeran explained he had scrapped his usual separate 'B stage' setup, telling fans he was concerned about 'what might happen if [he] stood in the middle' of the crowd. 

'I didn't know if they were going to throw things at me. I didn't know if people would be angry with me,' he said.

The crowd also gave a standing ovation after Sheeran brought out a group of musicians, led by the fiddler Alicia Enstrom, to back him on songs including his hit Galway Girl.

He explained how he reached out to the musicians after Irish folk band Beoga, who had played with him on the previous tour dates, dropped out of the tour.

'There are certain songs that just don't work as well with the loop pedal and when my friends pulled out of this show, I thought: 'How am I going to keep the show the same? How am I going to get musicians to come on stage with me in a week when no one wants to come on stage with me?' Sheeran said. 

'I called a friend of mine who is an amazing person and I toured with her all last year and I said: 'would you come on stage with me?' And she said 'yes',' he added. 

'I asked her if she had musician friends and she said yes. And they've had three days to learn these songs. And they agreed to come on stage knowing that the world might hate them too for coming on stage with me.'