Ed Sheeran is back on stage, and before the music was cued for his Philly concert, he had some issues to address.

The “Shape of You” singer got emotional as he spoke about his tour controversy, which ultimately resulted in the removal of Macklemore. When the rapper went on stage for the MetLife Stadium tour stops earlier this month, he shared a “Free Palestine” message amid the war in Gaza. The other openers, Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe, and Beoga, voluntarily backed out of the tour in solidarity with Macklemore and Palestine.

“This is not usually how I open a show, but before I play some songs tonight I hope it’s OK if I say a few words about this last week,” Sheeran began. “I’m used to my music being criticized, and I’m always happy to take that because I’m lucky a lot of you like my stuff… But this week the criticism was about something much more important. And I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so sorry.”

He added: “But this put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.”

Sheeran addressed his concern of venues filtering the artists' content seemingly referencing the Robert Kraft and Macklemore feud.

“Honoring my commitment to my fans is completely central to who I am, and that is why I’m here tonight on my own and continuing my current tour,” Sheeran continued. “But I am deeply worried about the idea of venues pre-approving content of performers. This happens in so many places I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world.”

He also made it clear that he does not want to become a “political commentator” but deemed that this is about “humanity not politics” delving in on both sides of the debate.

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“I’ve 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 how I feel about it anymore,” Sheeran said. “What happened in Israel at a… music festival on Oct. 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.”

Sheeran concluded his statement to Philly fans, adding that “everyone is welcome” at his concerts: “My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives, and the systemic justice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”

This is not the first time that Sheeran has spoken out following Macklemore's departure, as he addressed the controversy in a message on Instagram last week.

Kraft nor Macklemore have responded to Sheeran's speech at his Philly tour stop, but the singer will be heading to Gillette Stadium next for back-to-back sets on Sept. 25 and Sept. 26.