Ed Sheeran has shared an apology to Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim after recently interrupting his television interview.
The pop singer – who is a proud fan of Ipswich Town – gatecrashed an interview with the new Manchester United manager over the weekend (November 24).
Ipswich Town earned a surprising 1-1 draw with United in their Premier League fixture at Portman Road on Sunday afternoon, and soon afterwards, Amorim did an interview on Sky Sports, reflecting on his first game in charge of the club.
As he was speaking to host Kelly Cates, as well as pundits Roy Keane, Izzy Christiansen and Jamie Redknapp, Sheeran interrupted the interview to shake hands with the latter.
“I don’t think he wants to speak to me,” Sheeran quipped as Cates attempted to bring him into the conversation, referring to the fact that Ipswich had denied United an expected victory. “I love it, I love being back in the Premier League,” he added, before leaving the panel to continue the broadcast.
The ‘Shape Of You’ singer had been shown in the crowd numerous times during the match.
Now, following a wave of backlash from viewers, he has shared an apology to Amorim for gatecrashing the interview.
“Apologies if I offended Amorim yesterday, didn’t actually realise he was being interviewed at the time, was popping to say hi and bye to Jamie,” Sheeran wrote on Instagram (via Sky News).
“Obvz feel a bit of a bellend but life goes on. Great game though, congrats on all involved.”
There were calls for Sheeran to apologise soon after the interview aired, with many taking to social media to criticise him for butting into the interview. “I’m honestly a bit aghast at how rude that was from Ed Sheeran. Amorim should have told them all to get fucked,” one wrote on X/Twitter.
Ed Sheeran apologises for gatecrashing Ruben Amorim’s post-match interview #MUFC pic.twitter.com/yf4KxDkbyp
— sportsphere (@sportspheree) November 26, 2024
Another X user added: “Rúben Amorim should walk on stage in the middle of the next Ed Sheeran concert, start giving his bandmates high fives and ask them how they’re doing.”
The apology shared for the Sky Sports appearance comes as Sheeran also made headlines for his views on Bob Geldof’s new ‘Ultimate Mix’ version of Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ last week.
The 2024 version compiles the voices of artists who appeared in the 1984, 2004 and 2014 versions of the charity single, and ahead of its release, Sheeran said he would have respectfully declined to give permission for it had he been asked.
“A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed,” he explained, citing Fuse ODG’s argument that the song had “perpetuated damaging stereotypes” about Africa.
Band Aid mastermind Bob Geldof has vigorously defended the song, saying: ““This little pop song has kept millions of people alive. Why would Band Aid scrap feeding thousands of children dependent on us for a meal? Why not keep doing that? Because of an abstract wealthy-world argument, regardless of its legitimacy?”
“No abstract theory regardless of how sincerely held should impede or distract from that hideous, concrete real-world reality,” he added. “There are 600 million hungry people in the world — 300 million are in Africa. We wish it were other but it is not. We can help some of them. That’s what we will continue to do.”
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