Ed Sheeran's friend Jordan Stephens says 'everytime he speaks, it gets worse'

Ed Sheeran's longtime friend Jordan Stephens has criticised the singer over his handling of the Macklemore row, saying, 'everytime he speaks it gets worse.'

The Rizzle Kicks star, 34, who has known Ed, 35, for more than 15 years, publicly shared his stance regarding his friend's response after rapper Macklemore, 43, was dropped from the remaining dates of Ed's US Loop Tour.

Jordan has now revealed that he even contacted Ed privately as the controversy unfolded, and had felt 'conflicted' about discussing their friendship publicly.

'The closeness with Ed goes insofar as we were wanting to give him space to respond and see if there was something to come from that response,' Jordan said on his Miss Me? podcast on Thursday.

He added: 'It's very clear that in spite of the fact that Ed is a very kind person and has helped many of these artists with their career, it was unacceptable how he chose to respond.

'This whole political neutrality, total playing down of what's happening in Gaza, the use of the word 'conflict' in his statement was appalling. It was an appalling statement.'

Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran has reportedly lost around half a million Instagram followers amid the ongoing controversy.

Sheeran reportedly had 47.6million Instagram followers before the figure fell to approximately 47.2million.