Amelia Dimoldenberg calls Ed Sheeran a “red-headed puppet” during ‘SNL UK’ opening monologue

Amelia Dimoldenberg has called Ed Sheeran a “red-headed puppet” on Saturday Night Live UK, with the show once again taking aim at the star.

The singer has recently been at the centre of controversy after support act Macklemore was dropped from his ‘Loop’ tour after he made a “free Palestine” speech. Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft said he found the speech “deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community”, while the likes of Pink and the Israeli American Council called for his removal.

Sheeran’s band and all his other support acts subsequently dropped out of the tour, sharing support for Macklemore, while Sheeran himself later returned to the stage in Philadelphia and apologised for “making mistakes”.

Hosting this weekend’s (Saturday September 26) episode of SNL UK, Dimoldenberg took a dig at Sheeran during her opening monologue.

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“I’m 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,” she said in reference to her show Chicken Shop Date, accompanied by a picture of herself with Elmo.

“No, the other one,” she then added, as the picture was switched to one of her with Sheeran.

‘Weekend Update’ also took aim at Sheeran last week, with co-host Ania Magliano joking the controversy was “the worst thing that has happened to Ed Sheeran fans since their head injury”. Paddy Young also referenced Sheeran’s lazy eye, while also calling the singer “a passionate advocate of causes that are allowed”.

The show also criticised Sheeran via a sketch focusing on King Charles and the late Princess Diana amid a war between humans and AI robots.

“Thing is, Your Majesty, I don’t like to take sides. I don’t want to alienate any of my fans – humans or robots. A lot of my tickets are bought by scalping bots,” the Sheeran parody says.

Elsewhere, Sheeran’s two shows at Robert Kraft’s Gillette Stadium over the weekend were cancelled after “severe weather warnings”.