Ed Sheeran says family 'abandoned' him as Gorillaz wave Palestinian flag in direct rebuke of tour axe
From the Newshound archive · first published 21 September 2026.
Ed Sheeran's speech, shared on social media, in which he called the situation in Gaza 'catastrophic, unjustifiable and disproportionate' and said he could no longer hide how he felt.Ed Sheeran's concert at Lincoln Financial Field started two and a half hours late after all four support acts quit in solidarity with Macklemore.A social-media post disputing media accounts of crowd size at Lincoln Financial Field, where ticket prices had fallen as low as $32 ahead of Ed Sheeran's show.Macklemore, whose $1 million pledge to Palestinian relief has reignited debate over resurfaced photos of him in a costume critics have condemned as an anti-Semitic Jewish disguise.
Ed Sheeran, 35, broke down in tears before 50,000 fans at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday, saying friends and family had 'abandoned' him during the worst week of his life. His cousin Jethro publicly called him a 'coward' and a 'bad human' online. Sheeran admitted making 'mistakes', called Gaza 'catastrophic and unjustifiable' and said October 7 was 'horrific', reading the apology from an autocue.
Piers Morgan said Sheeran looked like 'some bullied puppet' reading from a script and 'bowed to the mob'.
Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn draped a Palestinian flag over his shoulders on stage in Florida, telling the crowd: 'Don't ever be neutral.'
Bake Off's Nadiya Hussain shared a post to her million followers accusing Sheeran of 'white tears' and 'becoming the victim'.
