Just Hours After His Quotes About Identifying Culturally As Irish Sparked Widespread Mockery, Ed Sheeran Has Hit Back

On Tuesday, Ed Sheeran's appearance on The Louis Theroux Podcast was released, and one headline that came out of the interview ended up causing quite a stir on social media.
During the chat, 34-year-old Ed, who was born and raised in Suffolk, England, said that he identifies culturally as Irish. This is arguably fair enough as Ed's father is Irish and hails from Belfast, with Ed spending much of his childhood in his dad's home country of Ireland.
"I class my culture as Irish. I think that's what I grew up with," he told Louis. "My dad's family is...he's got seven brothers and sisters. We'd spend all of our holidays in Ireland. My first musical experiences were in Ireland, I grew up with trad music in the house. So I identify culturally as Irish, but I was obviously born and raised in Britain."
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"I don't overthink it, but I do feel like my culture is something that I'm really proud of and grew up with and want to express," Ed went on. "And I feel like just because I was born in Britain doesn't necessarily mean that I have to just be [British], there's loads of people I know that are half this or quarter this."
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"I don't think there's any rules to it. It should be how you feel and how you were raised and what you lean into,' he continued, and when Louis asked if he gets 'a lot of love' in Ireland, Ed said: 'It's basically my second home, musically. I'd say Ireland is the place that I am most successful musically."
Before long, headlines along the lines of: 'Ed Sheeran says he identifies culturally as Irish' began to emerge on social media, and without the additional context of his dad's heritage as well as his childhood in Ireland, people were quick to mock the star's comments.
'I've seen B*Witched live and have watched a couple of Gaelic football games, which I think gives me an even more legitimate claim to be culturally Irish than Ed Sheeran,' one person tweeted in response to one of the news stories.
'Me after 1 Guinness,' somebody else wrote, while another popular response reads: 'Made a song called 'Galway Girl' and now thinks he's Irish.'
And on Wednesday, Ed took to his Instagram story to hit back at the discourse as he shared a screenshot of a comment that he left for the haters.
'For anyone with an opinion after what I said about my heritage on the @officiallouistheroux podcast x,' Ed wrote alongside the grab.
'My dad is Irish. My family is Irish. I have an Irish passport,' Ed's comment begins. 'The culture I was brought up around is Irish. The first music I learnt was Irish.'
'Just coz I was born somewhere else doesn't change my culture,' he went on. 'I can be allowed to feel connection to a place half of my family is from.'
You tell 'em, Ed — what do you make of his post? Let me know in the comments down below!
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