People have been up in arms about Ed Sheeran’s cameo in the premiere of Game of Thrones this week, claiming favoritism, elitism, and whatnot. The argument is that seeing Ed takes you out of the world of the show.

Thankfully, the show’s director is chiming in defending Ed, telling The Daily Beast, “I’m a bit surprised that people have made that much fuss about it. To me, he does seem quite organic, in his own way, to the show. The truth is, everybody on the show is famous now. So it doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s about, are they appropriate for the role? Are they doing a good job? And it was yes, yes, yes to all those questions with him.”

He added: “He is a lovely person; he’s really down-to-earth. If you didn’t know that he was a pop star or an entertainer of any kind, you would think he’s just one of the guys. And he is. He really just wanted to do a great job. He’s been acting for a little while; he takes it very seriously. And he was a real trouper, too. We were shooting in the middle of nowhere in Northern Ireland. He sat around outside with the cast and crew all day long, and just kind of hung out and was good-humored and lovely. He took direction well. He really could not have been nicer.”

H/T: US Weekly