Ed Sheeran says he "was always intending to come off Twitter" and denied it had anything to do with criticism of his cameo in Game Of Thrones' season premier episode, which he insists was "fuckin' awesome".

The singer removed his entire presence from the site earlier this week, a month after claiming that he planned to stop using it.

He reactivated his account less than 24 hours later however, regaining his millions of followers.

Posting on Instagram, which he did not delete, the singer wrote: “I came off Twitter coz I was always intending to come off Twitter, had nothing to do with what people said about my Game of Thrones cameo.”

He added: “I am in Game of Thrones, why the hell would I worry what people thought about that. It's clearly f***in' awesome.”

His comments were published alongside “an unrelated picture of me and my wonderful manager riding off into the sunset together.”

​Sheeran had previously limited his activity on Twitter, saying that he could not cope with the online hate directed at him.

His role in Game Of Thrones involved just two lines - "It's a new one", in reference to a song that Maisie Williams's character Arya Stark overheard him singing, and "Worst place in the world", about King's Landing.

But, for many fans of the show, Sheeran's participation was jarring and he was given an indulgent amount of screentime for his small role.

Much of the criticism was around the fact that there seemed to have been little attempt to disguise his cameo - whilst other artists such as Coldplay drummer Will Champion and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol were more difficult to spot in their scenes.

Sheeran's scene also left an opportunity for him to return in the next episode, although he did not appear in the trailer and a still from it suggests he won't be back.

Ed Sheeran makes Game of Thrones cameo

Co-showrunner David Benioff previously explained: "We knew that Maisie [Williams] was a big fan of Ed Sheeran, and for years we've been trying to get him on the show so we can surprise Maisie. This year we finally did it."

The episode’s director, Jeremy Podeswa, also defended the cameo, saying the singer did “a lovely job”, adding that “he’s a lovely actor and a lovely person.”

“He was appropriate for the part because he needed to sing,” Podeswa told NewsWeek. “If people didn’t know who Ed was, they wouldn’t have thought about it twice.

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“The hoo-ha seems to be from things that are outside of the world of the show. In the world of the show he did a lovely job, and he looks like he belongs in that world.”

It was also recently revealed that Sheeran will next make a cameo in The Simpsons, as a character caught up in a love triangle with Lisa Simpson.