India, Sept. 21 -- E nglish singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has apologised to fans during the first show of his tour in Philadelphia on Saturday. This comes days after rapper Macklemore was removed from the tour over his pro-Palestinian comments. "I never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important argument about free speech and the most complex political issue on the planet," Sheeran said. Calling the situation in Gaza "unjustifiable", he added, "My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of lives, of children's lives. This systemic injustice we're seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked." The 35-year-old also admitted he had not known "whether this tour would be carrying on" or "whether I even wanted to be an artist at all", amid the fallout. The controversy began on September 4, when Macklemore shouted "Free Palestine" while introducing his protest song Hind's Hall during a performance in New Jersey. After he was dropped from the tour, several other supporting acts later withdrew in solidarity. Sheeran had addressed the controversy on Instagram on September 15, saying the decision to remove Macklemore was made by the tour promoters and that he did not want to publicly take a political position on the Israel-Palestine conflict. HTC...