Ed Sheeran Calls Game of Thrones Cameo Jarring

has reflected on the backlash he received over his cameo in hit show , as he admitted he 'definitely ruffled some feathers'.

The singer-songwriter, 35, made a brief appearance in season seven as one of Lannister's soldiers leading a campfire singing session while Arya Stark was on her way to King's Landing to kill Cersei.

The hitmaker entertained the army with a tune titled Hands Of Gold, but the scenes was met with a decidedly negative reaction from viewers, with many claiming it was disrupting and took them out of the world of Westeros.

Appearing on his pal and producing partner 's podcast, Friends Keep Secrets, Ed confessed: 'I feel like I definitely ruffled some feathers being in Game of Thrones.'

But the Give Me Love star defended taking the role, insisting that anyone who was offered the opportunity to star in the juggernaut would jump at the chance.

While he also pointed out that the show was known for its celebrity cameos, including 's Will Champion, bands Of Monsters And Men and Sigur Rós, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star and singer Sophie-Ellis Bexter.

'What I've said is people love that show. If anyone gets asked to be in that show, it's an instant yes. I said yes. I enjoyed doing it,' he said.

Ed added: 'Members of Coldplay are at the Red Wedding, Gary [Lightbody] from Snow Patrol is in there. Chris Stapleton's in it as a White Walker. They did it a few times.'

He said he thinks the reason his cameo irritated fans was because it came during a time that he was particularly ubiquitous, having just released his best-selling album to date, Divide, featuring hit single Shape of You - which became the first song to hit 2 billion streams on Spotify.

'I think at the time I was very omnipresent and just everywhere,' he admitted. 'So, I think it was quite jarring'. 

Asked by Benny if he received any backlash over the role, he emphatically declared: 'Yeah, I got a lot' but added: 'I feel like that happens quite a lot in my career. I'll just s**t on for things. 

'A lot of it was in that year with Divide and I think it's because I was omnipresent and just everywhere.' 

Ed was asked to appear on the award-winning fantasy series by creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, as a surprise for actress Maisie Williams - who played Arya - and said they'd been trying to get the pop star on the show 'for years'.

He had previously showed off his acting chops on The Bastard Executioner in 2015, as well as Aussie and New Zealand soap operas, Home And Away and Shortland Street, and Bridget Jones' Baby.

He filmed his Game Of Thrones scene in November 2016 and previously described the experience as 'really fun', but later admitted on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast that 'people’s reactions to it sort of muddied my joy'.

And his appearance didn’t sit right with Hodor actor Kristian Nairn either, who spoke out publicly about the matter.

In an interview with HuffPost in 2018, he said: 'I’m not a fan of the cameos in Game of Thrones. I don’t like them. I think it’s stupid. I don’t mind going on the record on that. 

'I just think it takes you right out of the world. Especially Ed Sheeran. I was like, "Why is Ed Sheeran here?" I mean, Ed Sheeran’s great. He’s a great guy, great musician, but why is he in Game of Thrones?'

There were previously reports that Ed quit Twitter because of the trolling he received, but he denied that was the case, saying he had always planned to abandon the platform and declaring his cameo was 'clearly f****n’ awesome.'

But in 2021, the Grammy award-winner said the reaction had made him 'more careful' about agreeing to film and TV cameos.

'Game of Thrones was like bittersweet because I feel like I p****d a lot of people by being in that, but anytime I meet someone that is like, "Oh, you cameod on that show," I’m like, "What would you say?", he explained on Absolute Radio.

'Everyone would say yes. I was a fan of the show; they asked me to be in it. I didn’t expect there to be that much backlash but I am definitely more careful when I am offered cameos now.'

But the Thinking Out Loud star has continued to pop up in several big films, including Yesterday, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Red Notice, Sumotherhood and most recently, Zootopia 2.