Ed Sheeran has lost nearly 500,000 Instagram followers during what he described as “one of the worst weeks of my life.”
The 35-year-old British singer has been accused of “bowing to the mob” after apologising to fans on Saturday over his response to an Israel-Palestine controversy that has overshadowed his tour.
Sheeran has come under intense criticism since Macklemore was removed as the opening act for his Loop tour. The rapper had made pro-Palestinian remarks during Sheeran’s New Jersey shows earlier this month.
Macklemore announced on September 14 that he had been dropped from the tour following a week of “difficult conversations” with Sheeran. Before that announcement, Sheeran had 47.6 million Instagram followers. Within 24 hours, the figure had fallen to 47.3 million.
Data from Social Blade showed that Sheeran lost almost 150,000 followers on September 15, the day he addressed the controversy in an Instagram statement. A further drop of more than 98,000 followers was recorded the following day.
The decline continued over the weekend, after Sheeran made his first appearance on stage since the controversy and delivered an emotional address to fans in Philadelphia. As of September 23, his follower count stood at 47.2 million—around 500,000 fewer than a week earlier.
Ed Sheeran has lost almost 500,000 Instagram followers during what he has called “one of the worst weeks of my life”. He is pictured performing in Philadelphia on September 19
Following Macklemore’s removal from the upcoming tour dates, all of Sheeran’s other opening acts—Finneas, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe—as well as his backing band Beoga, announced that they would also leave in solidarity with the rapper and Palestine.
While Sheeran’s social media following has dropped sharply, the musicians who were removed from or withdrew from the tour have collectively gained 1.6 million followers, according to a report by Newsweek last week.
During Saturday’s Philadelphia concert, Sheeran addressed a crowd of 50,000, telling fans: “The last week of my life has been one of the worst weeks of my life.”
He said the support from fans had lifted him, adding: “Today has been one of the weirdest days of my life. Tonight has been honestly the best show of my life, the best show.”
“I really didn’t know whether this tour would be carrying on. I really didn’t know whether I’d even be getting on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all. In these situations, you really find out who your friends are, and it’s been a weird week.”
Sheeran has also faced accusations of “bowing to the mob” after apologising to fans at the beginning of the concert while reading a statement from an autocue.
The singer appeared to retreat from his earlier promise to keep politics out of his performances, describing the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic and unjustifiable” while calling Hamas’s October 7 attacks “horrific”.
Piers Morgan reposted footage of Sheeran’s speech on X and wrote: “I agree with Ed Sheeran’s overview of the Israel/Hamas war (Oct 7 terrible, Israel response disproportionate) but I wish he hadn’t bowed to the mob and felt forced to say it publicly, especially reading it off an autocue like some bullied puppet. He needs better advisors.”
Sheeran has faced fierce backlash since Macklemore was removed as the Loop tour’s opening act over pro-Palestinian comments made during the rapper’s New Jersey shows earlier this month
Many social media users echoed Morgan’s criticism. One supporter wrote: “His PR people need to be fired. No reason for him to have to speak to that outside of a very small mob of loudmouths.”
Another post said: “This dude simply wants to play and perform and has done so for years. He’s a bigger idiot than he was last week. What a disgrace to bow to the mob.”
However, another X user argued that Sheeran’s reliance on a teleprompter “is not proof he doesn’t care”.
“Ed is a singer. Not a politician. Not a news anchor. He does not spend his life rehearsing talking points on the most loaded conflict on the planet,” the post continued.
‘Asking him to speak off-the-cuff about Israel and Gaza in front of 50,000 people after a week that blew up his tour is not the same as asking him to sing “Castle on the Hill”. Using a teleprompter here is not proof he doesn’t care. It’s proof he was scared of getting the words wrong on something this radioactive. There is a difference.’
‘He just needs to be strong and say “No I’m not getting bullied and dragged in by any side”. He can walk away from this all and still have his music,’ agreed another.
‘To be fair, he was never going to “win” this regardless. What is shameful is that his “guest” on tour and band threw him under the bus,’ said one more.
On stage, Sheeran said he had been convinced to continue with his tour after he saw an uptick in ticket sales, telling the crowd: ‘Everyone’s telling me to cancel and I’m feeling all of my friends and family and people I know abandon me – and I look at the end of the week, and I see 50,000 people who haven’t abandoned me.’
But while politics threatens to overtake Sheeran’s tour, concertgoers outside the Philadelphia concert said the general feeling was a determination to enjoy the music.
According to Social Blade data, on September 15 alone, Sheeran’s Insta account shed nearly 150,000 followers, while another decline of more than 98,000 followed the next day. Pictured on stage on September 19
A concertgoer speaking to the BBC outside the Philadelphia concert said: ‘There was a sentiment of determination to enjoy an evening of music while at the same time supporting freedom of speech.’
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Reacting to Sheeran’s remarks as they later left the venue, another fan said he had ‘covered both sides nicely, and I think everyone leaves happy’, while another called his speech ‘very sincere, and I think that’s what the people wanted to hear was sincerity’.
In a solemn speech at the start of Saturday’s concert, Sheeran read off the autocue as he said: ‘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 and not division, about humanity and not politics.
‘But this is a humanitarian issue and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore. What happened in Israel at Nova music festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.
‘What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and 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.’
Sheeran told the audience that he plans to ‘continue my current tour’ despite each of his openers dropping out in solidarity with Macklemore.
Macklemore made the comments at two performances at MetLife Stadium on September 4 and 5, as he introduced his 2024 protest song Hind’s Hall which condemns Israel’s military action in Gaza.
Macklemore was removed from Sheeran’s tour after US stadium owner Robert Kraft accused him of hate speech and said he was ‘only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas’.
Kraft banned him from performing at the Gillette Stadium near Boston, which is owned by his holding company.
Sheeran struggled to hold back tears as he returned to the stage on Saturday, without his backing band and support acts.
The singer said he had ‘found out who his friends are’, adding: ‘I cannot hide how I feel… any more.’
In his first stage appearance since the Loop tour was plunged into turmoil, the father of two said he ‘never wanted to be an activist musician’ but the fierce criticism meant he has had to ‘take and make difficult decisions’.
He apologised and became visibly emotional again at the end of the show for bringing politics to his concert – something he had vowed not to do.
Sheeran said at the end of the night: ‘The one thing that I would like to apologise for is the first bit of the show where it wasn’t about music and I had to talk.
‘I understand that people have children here and I understand that families didn’t buy a ticket to hear that first bit of the show, but that was something I felt like I needed to say.’
By the end of the show, Sheeran broke down into tears, telling fans: ‘I’m so grateful. The world is a scary place right now. America is a scary place right now. This gives hope. This gives hope.’
The crowd broke out in applause as Sheeran appeared deeply moved.
‘My shows are about this,’ he said. ‘They are about people coming together that don’t know each other, that have different beliefs. They’re about unity. They’re about love. They’re about family.’
As fans cheered, Sheeran vowed that the controversy would not stop him from performing.
‘You’re jumping around like maniacs with each other and having fun,’ he said. ‘And I will never stop doing this. I will never stop doing this. I love doing this so much.’
At one point during the concert Sheeran explained he had scrapped his usual separate ‘B stage’ setup, telling fans he was concerned about ‘what might happen if [he] stood in the middle’ of the crowd.
‘I didn’t know if they were going to throw things at me. I didn’t know if people would be angry with me,’ he said.
The crowd also gave a standing ovation after Sheeran brought out a group of musicians, led by the fiddler Alicia Enstrom, to back him on songs including his hit Galway Girl.
He explained how he reached out to the musicians after Irish folk band Beoga, who had played with him on the previous tour dates, dropped out of the tour.
‘There are certain songs that just don’t work as well with the loop pedal and when my friends pulled out of this show, I thought: “How am I going to keep the show the same? How am I going to get musicians to come on stage with me in a week when no one wants to come on stage with me?”‘ Sheeran said.
‘I called a friend of mine who is an amazing person and I toured with her all last year and I said: “would you come on stage with me?” And she said “yes,”‘ he added.
‘I asked her if she had musician friends and she said yes. And they’ve had three days to learn these songs. And they agreed to come on stage knowing that the world might hate them too for coming on stage with me.’