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Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Just Hours After His Quotes About Identifying Culturally As Irish Sparked Widespread Mockery, Ed Sheeran Has Hit Back
On Tuesday, Ed Sheeran's appearance on The Louis Theroux Podcast was released, and one headline that came out of the interview ended up causing quite a stir on social media. During the chat, 34-year-old Ed, who was born and raised in Suffolk, England, said that he identifies culturally as Irish. This is arguably fair enough as Ed's father is Irish and hails from Belfast, with Ed spending much of his childhood in his dad's home country of Ireland. "I class my culture as Irish. I think that's what I grew up with," he told Louis. "My dad's family got seven brothers and sisters. We'd spend all of our holidays in Ireland. My first musical experiences were in Ireland, I grew up with trad music in the house. So I identify culturally as Irish, but I was obviously born and raised in Britain." Related: Here Are 16 Actors Who Saved Their Skin By Turning Down Roles In Movies That People Notoriously Hated "I don't overthink it, but I do feel like my culture is something that I'm really proud of and grew up with and want to express," Ed went on. "And I feel like just because I was born in Britain doesn't necessarily mean that I have to just be [British], there's loads of people I know that are half this or quarter this." Related: 18 Celebrities Who Called Out Other Celebs On Social Media For Bad, Problematic, Or Just Plain Mean Behavior "I don't think there's any rules to it. It should be how you feel and how you were raised and what you lean into,' he continued, and when Louis asked if he gets 'a lot of love' in Ireland, Ed said: 'It's basically my second home, musically. I'd say Ireland is the place that I am most successful musically." Before long, headlines along the lines of: 'Ed Sheeran says he identifies culturally as Irish' began to emerge on social media, and without the additional context of his dad's heritage as well as his childhood in Ireland, people were quick to mock the star's comments. 'I've seen B*Witched live and have watched a couple of Gaelic football games, which I think gives me an even more legitimate claim to be culturally Irish than Ed Sheeran,' one person tweeted in response to one of the news stories. 'Me after 1 Guinness,' somebody else wrote, while another popular response reads: 'Made a song called 'Galway Girl' and now thinks he's Irish.' And on Wednesday, Ed took to his Instagram story to hit back at the discourse as he shared a screenshot of a comment that he left for the haters. 'For anyone with an opinion after what I said about my heritage on the @officiallouistheroux podcast x,' Ed wrote alongside the grab. 'My dad is Irish. My family is Irish. I have an Irish passport,' Ed's comment begins. 'The culture I was brought up around is Irish. The first music I learnt was Irish.' 'Just coz I was born somewhere else doesn't change my culture,' he went on. 'I can be allowed to feel connection to a place half of my family is from.' You tell 'em, Ed — what do you make of his post? Let me know in the comments down below! More on this In A World Full Of Celebrity 'Climate Criminals,' Ed Sheeran's Comments About Flying On A Private Jet Couldn't Be More RefreshingStephanie Soteriou · June 10, 2025 Ed Sheeran Shared Over 200 Never-Before-Seen Pics From His 2010s Camera Roll, And Some Of These Need To Be Seen To Be BelievedEllen Durney · April 30, 2025 Ed Sheeran's Right – Performative Parenting Isn't Worth Your Kid's Digital PrivacyAmy Glover · April 14, 2025 Also in Celebrity: 17 Actors Who Said "No" To Nudity And Sex Scenes Out Of Respect For Their Partners, Families, Religion, And More Also in Celebrity: Chrissy Teigen Posted The Results Of Her Hairline Lowering Surgery, And Ouch Also in Celebrity: Here's Why People Are Raising Their Eyebrows Over Chris Pratt's Post About The Fatal Shooting Of His 'Parks And Recreation' Costar Jonathan Joss
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Diplomat makes history as first refugee to become a UK high commissioner
'In her mind this was a bastion of the establishment, she was a little worried of rejection,' Kanbar Hossein-Bor said of his mother's reaction, two decades ago, to the news he was applying to work in the UK Foreign Office. This week, the fear that 'he might not be British enough' was proved wrong, when Hossein-Bor was appointed as the UK's high commissioner to Fiji – the first refugee to achieve the rank. For the 44-year-old, who did not speak English when he fled Iran in 1987, the role is an opportunity to strengthen the UK's 'deep historic bond' with Fiji, as it faces a 'huge challenge around climate'. The father of two, who spoke to the Guardian shortly before his customary audience with King Charles, also sees the role as a chance to defy preconceptions. 'One thing I really want to convey through my own journey is that enormous sense of gratitude I have to the British people, who have taken a first-generation immigrant, and welcomed them,' Hossein-Bor said. 'I am worried there is a depiction of refugees and asylum seekers as people who come here and just take, take, take and don't give enough back. For me, Britain's given me all these opportunities and my career is a sense of me giving back. 'I hope in my own modest way, we can be challenging the stereotype of what it means to be British and inspiring other people. I passionately believe this, the UK, while we may not be perfect, when it comes to issues about race and migration, we probably have the best story out there. Globally, people can look at what we do.' Born into a prominent Balochi family in the borderlands of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Hossein-Bor's mother came to the UK as a UNHCR refugee, escaping the turmoil of the years after the Iranian revolution. He was six when he was driven across the 'very mountainous, arid, desert-like' Pakistan border, heading for a refugee camp and a new life in the UK, excited to be reunited with his mother, while feeling the 'trepidation' of the 'smuggling route'. The Iran he left was one where schoolchildren were made to chant 'death to the UK, Israel and America'. His new home was suburban Southampton. The kindness a teacher showed him on a school trip to France, after Hossein-Bor and his twin sister were separated from other pupils – because they were travelling on 'blue UN travel documents' – was formative. So was being cast as Winston Churchill in a school play. After winning an assisted place to grammar school, Hossein-Bor studied law at Warwick and Cambridge before practising as a barrister, joining the Foreign Office as a legal adviser and transitioning to a diplomatic career, serving in Iraq during 2007's US 'surge' offensive. A Balochi, Arabic and Farsi speaker, Hossein-Bor's 'international outlook' was shaped by a family steeped in stories of Persia's dynasties, the British empire and their interactions with the Balochi people. He added: 'There's a man called Sir Robert Sandeman, a colonial official who worked for the British empire on the borders of the then Iranian empire and the British empire. His job was to quell the unruly tribes there, many of whom were my ancestors. He's written a lot about how he was there to divide and rule. 'For me, to be his administrative successor – one of the great-grandchildren of the tribes – in the same building as him, both of us pursuing British national interests, albeit in a very different time, was quite a moment, because it reflects how the UK has changed, how I'm an instrument of change, but also how I've been able to step in the footprints of lots of countless people, other people of colour, who have made that journey easier for me. You just need to look at our foreign secretary [David Lammy] and the former prime minister [Rishi Sunak], to name but a few.' A Foreign Office spokesperson said: 'We are proud to be a diplomatic service where individuals of all backgrounds can rise on merit and realise the opportunity to serve the UK. Kanbar's story, as well as many others, embodies that. We congratulate him on his appointment as British high commissioner.'
