Following accusations from Wiley that he's a "culture vulture," Ed Sheeran issued what he says will be his one and only response.
"I never said no to doing a song for you after we made You for No.5," Sheeran wrote on Instagram. "You wanted to release 'if I could' the same week as my debut single on a major label and I merely asked if you could move to a week before or a week after - which you did - the song came out and I'm still very proud of it."
Sheeran also went on to state that he approves 90 percent of features, unless he's on a break or doesn't personally know the artist that's asking him.
He also answered charges from Wiley (in which the latter quoted Sheeran's song "You need me man, I don't need you") by saying that the intent of those lyrics had been drastically misinterpreted. "You need me I don't need you was written when I was 15," Sheeran said. "[A]nd definitely isn't about anything other than teenage angst."
Sheeran concluded his message by saying he was looking forward to Wiley's latest studio album: "You know I have a deep love and respect for the scene, and for you. I look forward to Godfather 3, excited to hear it."
You can read his whole message below:
Sheeran's reply came a week after Wiley dragged him into an ongoing public feud that he's been having with Drake, and also about three weeks after Wiley sent out a few negative tweets that accused Sheeran of clout chasing by trying to use a grime star for popularity, after Ed collaborated on a "Take Me Back to London" remix with Stormzy.
In a since deleted tweet, Wiley wrote: "Don’t come to grime if [you’re] a clout chaser and a culture vulture stay away." A follow-up stated, "Anyone who uses us and our sounds are culture vultures… I’m getting my guitar and foot pedal out and I don’t wanna hear nobody moaning about nothing."
These comments were very different from just *checks calendar* two years ago, when Wiley told NME that Sheeran should get the Godlike Genuis Award.
In either event, in response to Wiley's accusations, Stormzy came to Sheeran's defense by saying, “No Wiley you know Ed been doing this from early, been a real one from early, can’t question that, you know I love you and respect you brother but nah don’t do that.”
Now that you're caught up on British social media feuds, this latest discussion on said topic featured Wiley saying that Sheeran and Drake were "pagans" in addition to saying that Sheeran and Drake were the "2 worse culture vultures on the planet."
Here's part of that interview from a BBC Radio Twitter feed:
Whether or not Sheeran's message changes Wiley's mind, or at least gets him to stop publicly criticizing Sheeran, remains to be seen.
