New Zealand leader responds to Ed Sheeran's citizenship request

Written by . Published: November 29 2017

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has responded to Ed Sheeran's request to become a citizen of her country by setting him an informal test.


Ed, who will play six dates in New Zealand next March (18), has often spoken of his love for the nation in interviews, and on Wednesday (29Nov17) appeared on local radio station ZM to ask Jacinda to "hook" him up with citizenship.

The political leader responded to Ed's plea by setting him a brief test on some of New Zealand's customs.

"I understand you've put through a very informal request for citizenship," she said in a video published by the radio station. "Before we're able to think about that a little bit more, I've got some really important questions for you.

"The first: do you like Pineapple Lumps? Do you even know what they are? Two: are you willing to wear jandals in semi-inappropriate situations, and also, do you know what jandals are? And third, most important question of all: are you willing to make New Zealand your home? Let me know."

Pineapple Lumps are a popular New Zealand sweet, while Kiwis refer to flip-flop style sandals as "jandals".

Ed has previously said that he's emailed government officials asking for citizenship, and would move to the country to escape strife elsewhere in the world.

"I did ask for citizenship and I think we got an email from someone involved with that. So maybe that's going to happen. I could be a citizen," he told Britain's Daily Star newspaper earlier this year (17).

"I've always said that if a world war breaks out, the one place I would go to is New Zealand because no-one is going to be bothered to come that far to invade."