Ed Sheeran denies that he quit Twitter because of Game Of Thrones backlash

Ed Sheeran has remained defiant in the face of his controversial Game Of Thrones’ cameo, insisting that he didn’t quit Twitter as a result of the backlash and hinting that he couldn’t care less about the negative comments he has received.

The star was strongly criticised after he made his Thrones debut on Monday night, in the first episode of the seventh series of the fantasy drama.

In the scene, Ed played a member of the Lannister army who was singing in the forest before sharing a squirrel with Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams.

Fans and critics alike blasted Ed’s appearance, with many dubbing it totally “gratuitous” as they stated that his role didn’t add anything to the overall plot.

Shortly after the episode aired, Ed deactivated his Twitter account – activiating it again a day later but with the majority of his tweets deleted and the note: “I don’t use this anymore, please follow me on @teddysphotos on instagram, lots of love x” in his bio.

It was strongly speculated that Ed had deleted his Twitter as a direct response to the hate that he has been receiving following his Game Of Thrones’ appearance, but Ed took to Instagram last night to strongly deny that this was the case.

Sharing a photo of himself and his manager, Ed wrote: “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 [about] what people thought about that?

“It’s clearly f*ckin’ 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.”

The post came after Game Of Thrones’ director, Jeremy Podeswa, defended the star’s appearance in the show, insisting that they didn’t cast Ed purely because of his celebrity status.

Podeswa told Newsweek: “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.

“As everybody knows, the show really eschews stunt casting – it’s never, ever done that.

“If people didn’t know who Ed was, they wouldn’t have thought about it twice.”

Game Of Thrones’ co-creator, David Benioff, previously revealed that he’d secured Ed’s cameo as a surprise for actress Maisie, who is a huge fan of the star.

Benioff admitted: “For years, we tried to get Ed Sheeran on the show to surprise Maisie, and this year we finally did it.”

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