Ed Sheeran makes ‘homophobic comments’ in rap battle video

 
Removed: Ed Sheeran (Picture: Phil Walter/Getty Images)
Emma Powell22 April 2015
The Weekender

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A video allegedly showing Ed Sheeran making homophobic comments has been removed from the internet.

The old clip, which dates back to 2011 and was available on video sharing site YouTube, is said to have shown the Thinking out Loud singer in a freestyle rap battle with Devlin.

According to the Daily Mirror, Sheeran, 24, can be seen rapping: "Yo, I freestyle to the fa****y man. I go on the bus and I sleep for a day, then I come back and they’re like, Ed, you look like this gay.

He continues: "These guys are safe they’re not gay mans."

The video was pulled by Sheeran’s label Warner Music Group "due to a copyright claim".

In response to the clip a spokesperson told the newspaper: “Ed was sending up rappers who make homophobic remarks. He is clearly not ­homophobic.”

Last year the Grammy award winning musician – who this week became the first British artist to reach two billion streams on Spotify – took to Twitter to hit out at members of the public who were picketing and making homophobic slurs outside a Taylor Swift concert.

“To the people ­picketing outside the arena. Keep your homophobic views to yourself, it’s 2013,” he wrote.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">To the people picketing outside the arena. Keep your homophobic views to yourself, it's 2013.— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/edsheeran/status/363806857590091778" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61401-https://twitter.com/edsheeran/status/363806857590091778" data-vars-event-id="c23">August 3, 2013</a>

Evening Standard has contacted a spokesperson for Ed Sheeran for further comment.

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