'Catastrophic and unjustifiable': Sheeran addresses Gaza amid Macklemore controversy

Ed Sheeran addressed the situation in Gaza during a concert in Philadelphia, calling it "catastrophic and unjustifiable". This comes amid controversy over the removal of his tour's opening act, Macklemore, due to the rapper's pro-Palestinian comments.

Sheeran stated that he has traditionally stayed out of politics, but the current situation has put him in the middle of an important argument about freedom of speech. He referenced the massacre at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, describing it as "horrific" and said it compounded centuries of Jewish pain.

The English superstar apologized to fans for making mistakes and said he has had to make difficult decisions in the past week. According to ABC News (US), the rest of the opening acts for Sheeran's US tour announced they would also be withdrawing from the tour after Macklemore was dropped.

Brief written by urgent.news from Arutz Sheva - Israel National News, The Hill, ABC News (US) — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.