Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran briefly shut down his Twitter account after being inundated with hatred from fans of “Game of Thrones,” who objected to his brief cameo in the first episode of the show’s latest season.
Sheeran has since reactivated his account, but included a notice to state that he no longer uses it, adding in a link to his Instagram account.
His decision to delete his Twitter presence comes a month after he initially announced plans to stop using it. He later retracted his comments in an Instagram post stating: “I haven’t quit anything,” adding that he only meant to stop reading the replies people send to him any time he tweets.
However, the singer seems to have reneged on his decision to not read comments towards him, which have consisted largely of criticism towards his supposed inability to act—too little of which is even on display to even make a proper judgment. Sheeran appeared alongside Maisey Williams, who plays Arya Stark, in a scene where she happens upon him singing a song with a band of soldiers during her travels.
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Aside from his brief vocal performance, Sheeran doesn’t deliver any lines. If you don’t pay any attention whatsoever to his popularity, he simply blends into the role like any other actor on the show–so it’s almost puzzling as to why he’s receiving any hate.
Sheeran isn’t the only singer to appear on Game of Thrones. Coldplay drummer Will Champion and Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody also staged brief appearances as minor characters. Band members of Sigur Ros and Mastodon have also previously appeared on the show.
The episode’s director, Jeremy Podeswa, reacted to the Internet backlash with surprise. Speaking to Newsweek, he said that critics were far too interrogative of the singer’s presence.
“I know he’s very well-known and a successful singer but you’re in the bubble of the show — the cast are well known too, everybody is really well known… none of them can walk down the street without being followed,” said the director. “I think people interrogated it too much, they’re bringing so much of his [superstar] presence into the thing which is far beyond what anybody was thinking going into it. He is known to the producers of the show and some of the cast, and he’s a gigantic fan of the show.”