【1996 Archives】

Singer-turned-actor Ed Sheeran had assured us earlier this month that he was just reading a lot of Harry Potter and taking a break from the Twitter hate996 Archives not quitting the platform completely as reported.

But on Monday afternoon -- less than a full day after he appeared in the highly anticipated Game of Thronesseason premiere -- his Twitter account @edsheeran was deleted. Gone. Poof. Apparently opting for some Hogwarts counter-programming wasn't enough as we're now at the "Sorry, that page doesn't exist" level of seriousness.

Sheeran's been an active Twitter user for years and has had the occasional break, but the timing here is a bit suspicious.

He was getting dragged for what many saw as a silly, unnecessary cameo in the fantasy thriller Sunday night. Also, on Monday BuzzFeed compiled a list of tweets they predicted Sheeran would want to go back and delete from several years ago. They include such gems as: "Also, since not drinking, I've gone from a medium to a small. God I sounded like a woman there...." from February 2011.

Around 3 p.m. PT Monday, fans and Twitter followers noticed something was up.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

He hasn't posted or said anything about what prompted the full-on Twitter purge instead of the breather he promised.

But he's still on Instagram where around 5:30 p.m. PT he posted a photo of him climbing a mountain in Peru.

View this post on Instagram

Earlier Monday he, or a representative (let's be honest here) also posted about his Game of Thronesmoment on his official Facebook music page.

We reached out to Twitter to see if they had more details. Perhaps his account was down for some other reason? Maybe, we can dream.

Sheeran can always reactivate his account within 30 days, so we might see him back and tweeting again soon. Maybe in time for next week's GoT episode, where he mercifully isn't expected on screen.

UPDATE July 18, 10:34 a.m. PT: Sheeran's Twitter account has been reactivated, but only six tweets remain on his timeline. The most recent tweet is now from April 2015. Everything but the six tweets -- all from 2014 except the "recent" one -- have been deleted.

A Twitter spokesperson said the company couldn't comment on the account for privacy and security reasons.

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