Ed Sheeran told a Philadelphia crowd on Saturday that he "never wanted to be an activist musician," breaking his silence on Israel's assault on Gaza and the backlash over Macklemore's removal from his ongoing tour.

Ahead of his headlining performance, Sheeran said the expulsion of Macklemore — followed by the resignations of his additional support acts and his entire backing band — had placed him "in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet."

He pointed the finger at venues rather than himself.

"I am deeply worried about the idea that venues should pre-approve content of performers," Sheeran said. He did not mention Macklemore by name, nor did he accept any responsibility for the rapper being dropped from the tour. "This happens in so many places that I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world."

The dispute became public on September 14, when Macklemore accused his longtime friend Sheeran of buckling under pressure from Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner and Gillette Stadium proprietor. Macklemore alleged Kraft threatened to cancel the show if Sheeran did not remove him as opener. Sheeran subsequently blamed the promoter, Messina Touring Group, for the decision. Kraft, a longtime supporter of Israel and its military, admitted involvement in removing Macklemore but did not respond to the rapper's claim that he had rallied other venue owners to follow suit.

Macklemore's sets — including the two he played with Sheeran — have long featured footage of Israel's bombing of Gaza and a performance of "Hind's Hall," his song for Hind Rajab, a five-year-old killed by the Israeli military. After his removal, Macklemore pledged $1 million of his net tour earnings to six organizations supporting Palestinian aid and challenged Kraft to match the sum. Kraft, at Sheeran's urging, donated $2 million for "aid in the region" — though he has yet to specify whether the money will go to the same charities.

Sheeran also used his pre-show speech to address October 7 and the assault on Palestinians. "What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain," he said. "What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic, unjustifiable, and disproportionate. 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."

Midway through the set, Sheeran introduced replacements for his first backing band, Beoga, who resigned in solidarity with Macklemore alongside Finneas, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe. "They said yes to being on stage with the knowledge that the world thought I was a certain type of person," Sheeran said of the new lineup. "They said yes with the knowledge that the world may hate them too for standing on stage with me."

Before the finale, Sheeran revealed he had considered cancelling the remainder of the tour. "Tonight has been honestly the best show of my life," he said. "I really didn't know whether this tour would carry on, I really didn't know whether I'd get on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all. But, you know, in these situations, you really find out who your friends are."

He closed by apologizing for the apology he had made at the top of the show. "The one thing that I would like to apologize for was the first bit of the show where it wasn't about music," he said, adding that he understood "people have children here" and "families didn't buy a ticket to hear that first bit," but that it "was something that I felt like I needed to say."

Sheeran says he is now speaking with "people across the spectrum" to determine how to make a contribution helping victims of the conflict — a commitment that, unlike Kraft's donation, remains unspecified in both amount and recipients.