Amelia Dimoldenberg, the comedian and host of Chicken Shop Date, told a scathing joke at Ed Sheeran’s expense during the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live UK.
During Amelia’s SNL UK monologue on Saturday evening, she reflected on her time as host of Chicken Shop Date, the YouTube show in which she has interviewed a host of different A-listers in a very low-key setting.
“I’m incredibly privileged to have done so many interviews with people like Idris Elba, Cher and even the world famous red-headed puppet with a hand up his ass telling him what to say,” Amelia said during her monologue, while a photo of herself and Elmo was projected on the screen.
At that point, the photo of Elmo quickly switched to a photo of Amelia and Ed Sheeran, to which she joked: “No, the other one.”
The sketch comedy show had already taken several shots at Ed Sheeran during the previous week’s broadcast, with comic Paddy Young also having another pop at the Lego House singer during Saturday’s Weekend Update.
In the last few weeks, Ed has found himself in no end of controversy ever since bowing to pressure to remove Macklemore as the opening act on his ongoing world tour, after the rapper’s on-stage comments in support of Palestine.
Following the news he had been dropped from Ed’s tour, Macklemore detailed alleged phone conversations he’d had with Ed in the preceding days.
“We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that [Robert Kraft, the company’s CEO] said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium,” Macklemore claimed.
“Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”
Macklemore continued: “Ed was in a fucked up position. He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before.
“He told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood. But he couldn’t get past his public facing, ‘I don’t take sides’.”
For his part, Ed later said that he is “not complicit”, but chooses not to vocalise his political views.
“I choose to use my fame and platform to be a place of safety and sanctuary, to maintain diplomacy and keep conversations open, not closed,” he told his own followers. “If we only focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change. There are different approaches to being an advocate for change.”
Soon after, all of Ed’s opening acts dropped out of his tour, as did his opening act.
Ed’s concerts at Gillette Stadium were eventually cancelled last week because of bad weather.
