Add The New York Post on Google Fired up protesters holding Palestinian flags and anti-Israel signs gathered near Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field ahead of Ed Sheeran’s first show since he canned his opening act, Macklemore, after the rapper made multiple tirades against Israel.
A small but loud group of about 30 protesters gathered several blocks away from the venue ahead of the concert’s 8 p.m. start time, some in keffiyehs that covered their faces as held signs that read, “America is the head of the snake,” and “Ready to resist.”
The anti-Israel demonstrators, who chanted “Robert Kraft has got to go,” appeared to be out-numbered by a large turn-out of media.
With about two hours to showtime, tickets for Sheeran’s stadium show were still available on Ticketmaster in almost every section for as cheap as $32.
All of Sheeran’s opening acts — including Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas — and his backing band quit his “The Loop” tour in protest after Macklemore was abruptly booted after stadium owners objected to him delivering an anti-Israel screed at two of his shows.
No replacement opening acts have been named ahead of Saturday’s show.
“I wanted to stand up here on stages across America and say two words that are near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine,” the keffiyeh-clad rapper said to a captive audience at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 4.
The Grammy-winning rapper, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, also accused the Jewish State of genocide and apartheid.
He went on to perform his song “Hinds Hall,” a tribute to the anti-Israel demonstrators who took over an academic building at Columbia University and briefly trapped two janitors inside as images of the war in Gaza were displayed on a giant screen.
The “Same Love” rapper went on to perform the same hateful diatribe the following night at the Meadowlands, after NFL owners were assured that he wouldn’t.
Some Jewish Ed Sheeran fans present at the stadium were devastated by the “Thrift Shop” rapper’s performance, which they felt had hijacked what should have been a joyous evening.
“I was completely disappointed, and it ruined what was supposed to be a great night, my mom got me those tickets, and she was just crying,” Moshe Creditor, 21, said.
Macklemore was finally given the boot from the tour after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft barred the rapper from performing at Gillette Stadium.
Kraft slammed the rapper’s performance for being “deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community,” but also extended an olive branch and said he’d like to sit down with him.
“This decision is not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf. Their pain and loss are real,” Kraft said.
“But that advocacy should not come at the expense of the Jewish community or obscure the responsibility of Hamas, a United States and globally … designated terrorist organization whose horrific actions have caused immeasurable suffering for Palestinians and Israelis alike.”
Jewish singer Pink also spoke out against the “Same Love” rapper, and slammed him for a 2014 incident in which he played a concert dressed as an antisemitic caricature of a Jewish person.
“Macklemore put on a hooked nose, a black beard and a bowl cut, performed in it, and called it a ‘random costume.’ Every Jew I know knew exactly what it was,” Pink said.
