Ed Sheeran Explained What Converted Him Into A Boston Celtics Fan, And Reneé Rapp Was Involved

Ed Sheeran headlined Boston Calling Music Festival 2024, but that wasn’t the only highlight of his Memorial Day Weekend. On Thursday, May 23, Sheeran and fellow Boston Calling performer Reneé Rapp sat courtside when the Boston Celtics hosted the Indiana Pacers at TD Garden for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and it left an impression on him.

“I’d only ever been to two basketball games before,” Sheeran said on the newest episode of Therapuss With Jake Shane. “One was a Celtics-Knicks game, and one was a Knicks [versus] someone else, so I haven’t really found a team. And then, yesterday, I saw all this green around and all these sort of Irish symbols, and I was like, ‘Well, yeah, I guess I’m a Celtics fan now.'”

Sheeran, already a longtime Tennessee Titans fan, continued, “I was sitting there, and I didn’t really know what was going on. Reneé was like, ‘OK, if you shoot from here, it’s a three; if you shoot from here, it’s a two. If they foul, then they get another one.’ She was explaining [the game], so I feel like I know now. I feel like maybe the Celtics, because they’re a really, really good team that win all the time, that maybe it was quite an obvious choice for me to be like, ‘I’m a fan.'”

The viral X (formerly Twitter) video of Rapp seemingly explaining basketball to Sheeran is even more delightful to watch now.

Sheeran isn’t wrong in that the Celtics are an obvious bandwagon to join. Boston has appeared in four of the past five Eastern Conference Finals and will take on the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals, beginning on Thursday, June 6, in Boston.