British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran criticized the atmosphere at American awards shows after he performed in concert at the MTV Video Music Awards over the weekend.
In an interview with “Audacy” podcast host Julia, Sheeran talked about the toxic social environment he experienced at the VMAs.
“The room is filled with resentment and hatred towards everyone else and it’s quite an uncomfortable atmosphere,” he told Julia. (RELATED: Reba McEntire Gets Rescued After Staircase In Historic Building Collapses)
Sheeran didn’t blame the artists themselves, but the fact that they are all “surrounded by entourages that want them to win too.” “It’s one artist surrounded by 10 people and another artist surrounded by 10 people and everyone is kind of giving each other the side eye,” he said.
Neither did Sheeran place the blame solely on the VMAs. “It’s at all the other awards shows,” he said. “Billboards, GRAMMYs… AMAs. It’s just lots of people wanting other people to fail and I don’t like that.”
He went on to compare American award shows to British ones, saying that “in England, our award shows are just like, every one gets drunk and no one really cares who wins or loses, it’s just sort of a good night out.”
Sheeran also said he was not alone in his sentiments. He told Julia that he spoke to other celebrities at the event who told him they felt “‘really depressed afterwards.’”
“The atmosphere is just not nice,” he said. “It’s a really, really horrible atmosphere to be in there. I always walk away feeling sad and I don’t like it.”
Sheeran performed on stage, singing his new single “Shivers,” from his album “=,” which releases Oct. 29.