![\"Independent](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790588650_110_Independent+Membership+White.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.<\/p>\n
Join today<\/a><\/p>\n \n Already a member? Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n Saturday Night Live<\/a> UK are not pulling any punches, with the sketch show setting its sights once again on Ed Sheeran<\/a>. <\/p>\n Sheeran, 35, has been at the centre of controversy in recent weeks after Macklemore<\/a> announced he had been fired from the singer-songwriter\u2019s Loop tour over his pro-Palestine<\/a> comments at an earlier gig. Sheeran\u2019s other opening acts withdrew in solidarity, while protesters gathered outside his first Macklemore-less concert last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n Making her SNL<\/a> hosting debut on Saturday (26 September), Amelia Dimoldenberg<\/a>, the host of Chicken Shop Date, referenced the controversy in her opening monologue. <\/p>\n Describing her journey to hosting the late-night sketch show, Dimoldenberg, 32, said she was \u201cincredibly privileged\u201d to have made it this far and spoke about some of the famous people she has interviewed on her popular web series. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m incredibly privileged to have done so many interviews with people like Idris Elba, Cher, and even a world-famous redheaded puppet with a hand up his arse telling him what to say,\u201d said Dimoldenberg as a photo of her and Elmo showed up on the screen. \u201cNo, the other one,\u201d she said, before the photo swapped to another of herself and Sheeran. <\/p>\n This is not the first time that SNL UK has lampooned the situation. Last week\u2019s episode saw the cast take on Sheeran in a sketch that viewers praised as \u201cone of their best\u201d<\/a>. <\/p>\n In it, a war breaks out between AI robots and humans, with King Charles insisting that they do everything they can to resist the takeover before Sheeran \u2013 played by cast member Annabel Marlow complete with a ginger wig, fake tattoos and a loop pedal \u2013 suggests: \u201cOr maybe we shouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Having been \u201coutside sitting on the fence\u201d, Sheeran tells the King: \u201cThe thing is, your Majesty, I don\u2019t like to take sides. I don\u2019t want to alienate any of my fans \u2013 humans or robots. A lot of my tickets are bought my scalping bots. Sometimes when it comes to conflicts, the bravest thing you can do is to say nothing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Poking fun at Sheeran\u2019s initial statement in which he said he does not use his \u201cprofessional platform for politics\u201d<\/a>, Marlow then sang in character: \u201cI\u2019m talking \u2018bout both sides are equally right. No matter the conflict, whatever the fight. Girl listen now, black, white, I only see grey.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Macklemore claimed that Robert Kraft<\/a> \u2013 the CEO of Kraft Group who owns Gillette Stadium \u2013 personally called Sheeran to say he would not be allowed to perform at the venue, while Sheeran later responded by stating he would not be drawn into a public debate<\/a> about the Gaza war and that it was \u201cthe promoter\u2019s decision\u201d to remove Macklemore. Shortly afterwards, his other opening acts withdrew from the tour.<\/p>\n Last week, Sheeran issued a tearful apology to his fans during his Philadelphia concert, saying: \u201cI\u2019ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes. I\u2019m so, so sorry. I don\u2019t want to disappoint fans.\u201d<\/p>\n Insisting that he wants his music to be about \u201cunity, not division\u201d, he added that he couldn\u2019t hide his feelings about the conflict any longer. \u201cWhat happened in Israel, and at the music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate,\u201d he continued. \u201cMy heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilian loss and loss of children\u2019s lives. And the systemic injustice we\u2019re seeing unfolding in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6225,6491,208121,5343,5183,96,208122,194261,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-785146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-arts","tag-celebrities","tag-civil-conflict","tag-culture","tag-demonstrations","tag-entertainment","tag-riots","tag-top-picture","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Log in<\/a>\n <\/p>\n![\"Amelia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-27-at-10-45-06.png\")
Amelia Dimoldenberg roasts Ed Sheeran on \u2018SNL UK\u2019 (Sky)<\/p>\n![\"Singer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-20T040207Z_1831225387_RC2QMNAI21XV_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-MACKLEMORE-ED-SHEERAN.JPG\")
Singer Ed Sheeran speaks on stage as he addresses a controversy over Macklemore being pulled from the tour after saying “Free Palestine” at a show early this month, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US September 19, 2026, in this screen grab obtained from a video (Reuters)<\/p>\n