Ed Sheeran has deleted his Twitter account less than a day after his long-awaited Game of Thrones cameo aired.
Although Sheeran didn’t state why he had deleted his account, some quickly correlated his quitting Twitter with the polarizing reactions to his Game of Thrones appearance. He wasn’t the first musician to cameo on the show, but his was not only the most high-profile but also the most noticeable. He played a Lannister soldier whose singing caught the ears of a passing Arya Stark, who was on her way to King’s Landing. Online reaction was heated, to put it lightly, as some complained about the cameo while others found nothing inherently wrong with it.
Reaction to Sheeran deleting his account was, like his cameo, mixed. Some were happy to see him go while others were angry at the idea that Sheeran may have been pushed off Twitter due to nastiness online or because of a Game of Thrones appearance.
WHERE DID ED SHEERAN'S TWITTER GO?
— Alex Goldschmidt (@alexandergold) July 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/aSophieLally/status/887110004087689216
https://twitter.com/joe815/status/887108858006654981
https://twitter.com/lukewaltham/status/887077236821676033
Well the haters officially got Ed Sheeran off Twitter… pic.twitter.com/yyVUeczvW5
— ▶️Honey Nut Sheerio▶️ (@TheIATeam) July 17, 2017
Before he deleted his account, Sheeran had already soured on the idea of Twitter and social media more than once. He took a one-year break from social media to work on what would become his third album, ÷ (Divide).
“I’ve actually come off Twitter completely,” Sheeran told the Sun on July 3. “I can’t read it. I go on it and there’s nothing but people saying mean things. Twitter’s a platform for that.”
He later denied that he quit Twitter in an Instagram post but added in another interview that he’s “choosing not to read anything.” In the past couple weeks, Sheeran had mainly used Twitter to share his Instagram posts before deleting his account.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWLWhDElBxx/
Sheeran is still posting to Instagram, where he shared a behind-the-scenes photo of his Game of Thrones cameo along with a snapshot of his vacation in Peru. He made no mention of leaving Twitter.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWohJtkFqpT/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWqsi5YF5Ms/
H/T BBC
Update 12:35pm CT, July 18: Sheeran’s Twitter account is back online less than a day after he deleted it, with fewer tweets than it previously had. While the most recent archive of his Twitter feed included shares of recent Instagram posts, Sheeran’s most recent tweet is now from April 2015.