Charlotte Church has criticised Ed Sheeran at one of her recent concerts, telling crowds he had chosen "capitalism over doing the right thing" as she led chants of "Free Palestine" and insisted that "politics is life".
The singer and Celebrity Traitors star addressed the audience after Sheeran made headlines when Macklemore was dropped as one of the opening acts of his tour after speaking up for Palestinian rights. Many artists came out in support of Macklemore, including Sheeran's other opening acts and his own band. Sheeran was criticised for not taking a stance on the conflict in Palestine and for not supporting Macklemore by refusing to drop him from the tour line-up.
Church's on-stage comments
Church is the latest musician to criticise Sheeran. At one of her concerts, she said to the crowd: "Whilst he has made millions and has an enormous following, he has an enormous platform to do real good in the world. He chose consumerism and capitalism over doing the right thing.
"So we say the same thing to Ed Sheeran because f*** the fact [he says] that musicians shouldn't be involved in politics. F*** that s***. Politics is life." She then warned Sheeran, saying "we're watching you" and led the audience in chants of "Free Palestine".
Sheeran's response
Sheeran has responded to the backlash he's received both on social media and on stage. He released a statement on Instagram insisting he was "not complicit" in the ongoing genocide and that the decision to drop Macklemore from the tour was made by his promoters rather than by him.
He also stated that he "does not use my professional platform for politics". This is despite having done a concert to raise money for humanitarian relief in Ukraine after the Russian invasion began, having spoken out in favour of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and having signed an open letter urging the US Congress to pass the Equality Act to protect LGBTQIA rights.
On stage in Philadelphia, he read out a statement from a teleprompter, which said: "I've had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I'm so, so sorry for them. 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 continued: "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, not division, about humanity, not politics. But this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide about how I feel about it anymore. What happened in Israel and at the Nova music festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.
"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, children's lives. And the systemic injustice we are seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked."
Later in the show, he teared up, revealing that he had been told to cancel his tour. "In these situations you really find out who your friends are," he said. "It's been a weird week. It happened very quickly. At the same time, I had so many people telling me to cancel this tour and so many people I've known for years and years and years they're kind of backing away.
"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."
Artists show support for Macklemore
Many of Sheeran's fellow artists have chosen to show their support for Macklemore and Palestine over the Shape of You singer. Zara Larsson said it was "so powerful" to see Macklemore speak out, while Paloma Faith criticised Sheeran's statement where he said that he tries to stay apolitical because his audience includes people who are young.
She said: "When he said that, it really upset me because there are so many children in Palestine who are faced with unimaginable things and shouldn't be. I say 'free Palestine' to my children every night. I think children should be exposed to politics."
