Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn held up a Palestinian flag during the band’s show in Florida on Thursday, draping it over his shoulder while speaking to the crowd.
“Don’t forget this. Ever. Stand your position. Don’t ever be neutral,” Albarn told the audience.
The moment came days after rapper Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour following his onstage call for a “Free Palestine.” Fox News Digital reached out to Gorillaz and Sheeran for comment.
Gorillaz is among several acts that have used concert stages to voice support for Palestinian causes since the Oct. 7 terror attacks. The band performed at the Together for Palestine concert in 2025, a benefit for Palestinian organizations. During Glastonbury in 2024, Albarn asked the crowd directly about their views, saying, “Three things, and you have to show me how you feel about them: Palestine. Are you pro-Palestine? Do you feel that’s an unfair war? Okay.”
Macklemore’s removal from the Sheeran tour drew criticism from progressive figures, though representatives for Sheeran have said he was not involved in that decision. Macklemore addressed the situation in a lengthy Instagram post, writing in part: “Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour. But before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.”
Sheeran spoke about the controversy during a show on Saturday night. “Now, I want to address the question of where I stand in the situation in Israel and Palestine and whether my doing this concert here tonight implies where I stand. I’ve tried in my career to not be a political commentator of any kind because I want my music and shows to be about unity not division, about humanity not politics,” he said. He added, “But this is a humanitarian issue and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore. 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.”
