Game of Thrones regularly kills fan favorite characters, sometimes at their weddings. But you know what people found really offensive? That time Ed Sheeran swung by to sing a song.
The very idea that the singer-songwriter would get a GoT cameo only strengthened the notion that one can never escape Ed Sheeran, be it when you’re buying aluminum foil at a CVS or watching a show where little dragons chill with that woman from the fifth Terminator movie.
Even Sheeran seemed to be annoyed with the reaction to his appearance on HBO’s goriest show. In an interview with BuzzFeed that also included gifs of him with cats, the soft pop troubadour — who was recently sued over allegedly copying a Marvin Gaye song — probably went farther in his anti-Ed Sheeran vitriol than most people.
In an exchange singled out by The A.V. Club, Sheeran responded to a fan question about what he thinks happened to his character — a Lannister soldier prone to singing:
I know what Game of Thrones fans hoped happened to my character. I’m sure they think my character got brutally, brutally murdered, but I think my character is still out there. I think he’s chillin’. It was fun being in Game of Thrones, but I definitely think they should’ve killed me off in the episode. I reckon that probably would’ve been the redemption for people that didn’t like it.
Thing is, Sheeran wasn’t even particularly annoying. The furor over the Ed Sheeran GoT cameo was more about the idea of it, which is, admittedly, on-its-face fairly offensive. But the scene in question, in which he and a group of soldiers happen upon Arya Stark as she traveled to King’s Landing, didn’t even temporarily subtract the show’s credibility.
It was a respite before the ginormous battle that proved to be on the horizon, and it even added some much-needed humanity, on top of a pleasant tune. So take that, Ed Sheeran: You’re wrong about deserving to die on Game of Thrones.
(Via BuzzFeed and The A.V. Club)
