Ania Magliano skewered Ed Sheeran’s fanbase during a “Weekend Update” segment on “SNL UK,” joking that the only thing worse than the Macklemore tour controversy for devotees was “their head injury.”
The comedian, a writer and performer on the British spinoff, delivered the barb last week as the “Shape of You” singer’s “Loop Tour” faced fallout from his opening act’s onstage political statements. Magliano, whose age was not reported, opened her bit by declaring that “the Israel-Palestine conflict just got serious.”
“That’s right — Ed Sheeran’s US tour is under threat,” she said during the broadcast.
Magliano then pivoted to the punchline that drew attention across social media. “Will Sheeran have to cancel the tour?” she asked. “There’s a very real risk that he won’t.”
The segment also trained its sights on billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots, who had barred Macklemore from performing at his venue after the rapper’s remarks. “SNL UK” referred to Kraft as a “wealthly corpse-maxxer,” according to the broadcast.
Comedian Paddy Young joined the segment to address Kraft’s “checkered past,” including alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein and 2019 prostitution solicitation charges. Young noted that Kraft “appointed one of Jeffery Epstein’s lawyers to his legal team,” then added a dark twist: “But, not wanting to be associated with the evil dead guy, Epstein had himself killed.”
The show also displayed an unflattering photo of Sheeran appearing cross-eyed, with Young giving him credit for “looking at both sides of the issue.”
Macklemore, whom “SNL UK” dubbed the “good guy with bad music,” had triggered the controversy during his opening set on Sheeran’s tour. The “Thrift Shop” rapper led chants of “Free Palestine” on stage and accused Israel of “genocide,” prompting Kraft to remove him from the Gillette Stadium lineup.
The incident marked a rare moment when a late-night comedy show redirected political backlash away from the controversial figure and onto the headliner’s audience instead. Magliano’s joke about Sheeran fans’ “head injury” landed as the sharpest insult in a segment packed with them.
Neither Sheeran nor Macklemore appeared to have publicly responded to the “SNL UK” broadcast as of the program’s airing.
The “Loop Tour” continues across US arenas through the summer.