Aaron Rowe, who was one of the opening acts on Ed Sheeran’s tour before pulling out after Macklemore’s dismissal over his support for Palestine, has now issued an impassioned defense of the singer.

“I think you are all focusing on the wrong person here. All I keep hearing is Ed Sheeran this, Ed Sheeran that. When you really should be focusing on the likes of Robert Kraft. You really should be focusing on the Zionist lobbies that are trying to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide, the genocide that is happening in Palestine right now by Israel,” said Rowe in a video posted to his Instagram account Friday.

He continued: “Look, I know Ed’s statement could have been a lot better, and I do think that Macklemore shouldn’t have been pulled off the tour. I fully believe it was panic station over there, and they rushed the decision because they didn’t know what to fucking do because they were getting it from all angles. That’s a mistake… I haven’t had a chance to fucking talk to Ed too much, but I fully believe he knows that was a mistake.”

Rowe went on to point out that most of the artists in Sheeran’s opening lineup support Palestine. “Look who’s on the fucking lineup, yeah? Beoga, the most pro-Palestine group out there…. fully pro-Palestine, fucking Macklemore. Need I say more? Me, everyone knows my fucking stance on Palestine. Like, if Ed Sheeran was a fucking Zionist, why would he have all these fucking people on the fucking tour? It was human fucking error.”

The Irish singer-songwriter’s video comes as Sheeran continues to receive backlash for Macklemore’s removal from the tour. In addition to Rowe, Finneas, another opener, also dropped out of the tour. When Rowe dropped out, he acknowledged that Sheeran had “changed my life,” a point he honed in on again in this video.

“I know Ed Sheeran has done so much for so many fucking people, including artists like me, who he’s literally changed their entire lives. All he has inside of him is kindness. That is who Ed Sheeran is. And yes, like every other human being, he makes fucking mistakes.”

Rowe concluded: “You should be using this opportunity to plaster Robert Kraft’s face everywhere. Someone who tried to shut down free speech. Someone who tried to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide. That’s what you should be using your energy on, not fucking Ed Sheeran, for fuck’s sake.”