Ed Sheeran apologized to his fans for the "mistakes" he made; He made the comments at his first show after Macklemore was kicked off his tour for his pro-Palestinian comments on stage.

Ed Sheeran apologized to his fans for the "mistakes" he made; He made the comments at his first show after Macklemore was kicked off his tour for his pro-Palestinian comments on stage.

The singer opened his concert in Philadelphia by addressing the controversy that has plagued his tour ever since and caused all the artists who were scheduled to take the stage before him to drop out.

The singer said the decision to leave Macklemore was made by the show's organizers, not him. The controversy caused a drop in ticket prices and ticket sales for the remainder of his US "Loop" tour.

Sheeran told the audience that although he is used to criticizing his music, "this week the criticism was about a much more important issue and I had to make difficult decisions and I made mistakes in making those decisions and I'm really, really sorry." He said he wanted to "answer the question of where I stand in the captivity of Israel and Palestine and whether holding this concert here tonight shows what I stood for or not."