Ed Sheeran has reacted angrily to a story in a British tabloid that accused him of wanting to build railings around his house to keep the homeless off his property.
A story appeared that the superstar singer had submitted planning permission for railings around his London home – and the Sun claimed that is was because Sheeran wanted to keep the homeless away.
However, the Galway Girl singer has hit back and revealed a much more reasonable explanation for his need for the railings.
He said in an Instagram post: “Dear Natalie Edwards from the Sun newspaper. Your story is bollocks, I have done lots of work in the past for crisis and shelter and would never build railings outside my home for that reason.
“The reason was to keep the paps that you employ from being on my doorstep. Have a good day.”
The accusation is particularly offensive for Sheeran, who has spoken in the past about sleeping rough as a struggling singer before he hit the big time.
He has also used his platform to raise awareness about the plight of homeless people by releasing a song called ‘Homeless’.
The Sun’s article stated that Sheeran’s application cites one of the reasons for the railings would be for ‘preventing opportunities for rough sleeping’.
However a spokesperson for Sheeran said: “This is a standard planning application, which was not written by Ed, and it is not reflective of Ed’s views or feelings on homelessness.
“We have sought to work with the council from the very start, yet we have been met with barriers.”
Take a look at Ed Sheeran performing Homeless at the iTunes festival in 2012
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling
