Ed Sheeran Reportedly Quit Twitter Over ‘Game of Thrones’ Backlash
Game of Thrones is no stranger to musician cameos, though it’s hard to argue singer Ed Sheeran’s “Dragonstone” cameo felt less subtle than usual. Fans didn’t take kindly to the intrusion, and reportedly chased Sheeran off Twitter with their criticism.
The account has since been restored (its most recent tweet being April 2015), though fans were quick to note Monday night that Sheeran’s Twitter page had been deactivated. The “Shape of You” singer has not publicly confirmed a reason for the brief outage, though Variety recently noted that 7% of the 2.4 million tweets sent during the Season 7 premiere concerned Sheeran and his unexpected appearance.
UPDATE: Sheeran has now taken to Instagram to deny reports of being hounded off social media, claiming the Twitter absence was purely coincidental (h/t Vanity Fair):
Last i'll say on this. I came off Twitter Coz I was always intending to come off Twitter, had nothing to do with what people said about my game of thrones cameo, because I am in game of thrones, why the hell would I worry what people thought about that. It's clearly f—in' awesome. Timing was just a coincidence, but believe what you want. Here is an unrelated picture of me and my wonderful manager riding off into the sunset together
Sheeran’s Season 7 cameo had been public knowledge for some time, as was that he’d share scenes with Maisie Williams’ Arya Stark, whose adoration for the singer led to showrunners arranging the appearance as a “gift.” The scene in question saw Arya happening on a group of friendly Lannister soldiers – Sheeran among them – as they sang “Hands of Gold.”
Seeing as “Dragonstone” didn’t revisit Arya after her time with the Lannister soldiers, it’s possible this coming week’s “Stormborn” could feature yet another brief Sheeran appearance. Earlier in July, Sheeran told The Sun he generally keeps off Twitter:
I’ve actually come off Twitter completely. I can’t read it. I go on it and there’s nothing but people saying mean things. Twitter’s a platform for that. One comment ruins your day. But that’s why I’ve come off it … The head-f— for me has been trying to work out why people dislike me so much.
And while the account has returned, The BBC notes that this is the first instance of Sheeran actually shutting down his page. Game of Thrones will continue this coming Sunday, while Sheeran has also booked an upcoming appearance on The Simpsons.