Ed Sheeran Confesses He’d ‘Be a Virgin’ if He Wasn’t a Musician While Playing ‘Pokémon Stadium’ in a Stadium
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After a fan mentioned that Harry Styles had said the same thing, Sheeran responded with, “Who do you actually believe?”
For Ed Sheeran, catching ’em all involves a bit of self-deprecating humor.
On August 3, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter shared a clip of himself sitting on the floor of a stadium during his ongoing Mathematics Tour. That weekend, he performed two shows at Darius and Girėnas Stadium in Lithuania.
But Sheeran wasn’t just taking a quick breather during soundcheck. Instead, he was playing Pokémon Stadium on the empty stadium’s jumbotron.
“If I wasn’t a musician, I’d be a virgin,” Sheeran joked in the video.
The 33-year-old “Perfect” artist, who was 9 years old when the game first launched on the Nintendo 64 in Europe, was using his Nintendo Switch, apparently hooked up to the big screen. “Pokemon Stadium in the stadium,” Sheeran captioned the clip, along with hashtags like “#superawesomewickedcool #wannacometomybirthdayparty #itlbefunpromise #cake.”
Sheeran’s joke certainly amused his fans in the video’s comment section, where one fan pointed out, “Harry said the same thing,” referencing a similar comment made by Harry Styles in an interview.
In response, Sheeran commented, “But who do you actually believe, let’s be honest.”
Another fan playfully questioned Sheeran’s past remarks about video games: “So years ago when you said you didn’t like video games you were lying 😂💙.” Sheeran replied, “Pokémon isn’t a video game; it’s a lifestyle choice.”
Sheeran’s connection with Pokémon runs deep. His track “Celestial” was featured in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet in 2022. Reflecting on his love for the franchise, Sheeran shared, “I’ve played Pokémon since I was in primary school. Me and my brother used to have different versions of the games and would trade Pokémon together ‘til we each completed our Pokédex. I loved the cards, but the games are what I lost myself in. I loved the whole world they created; it kept me distracted if there was negative stuff happening in my life/school that I wanted to avoid. It was a world I could escape into, and I’ve played it ever since,” he told Rolling Stone.
While Sheeran seems to be a big Nintendo and Pokémon fan, he’s otherwise keeping his use of electronics to a minimum.
On the talk show Therapuss with Jake Shane in June, the “Shape of You” singer revealed that he hasn’t had a phone since 2015, and he explained why. At the time, Sheeran offered his email address instead of a phone number, saying, “I don’t have a number… that isn’t me playing you off either.”
He added, “I have something for video stuff that goes up on social media,” but clarified that it’s not a functioning phone.
Sheeran decided to live without a smartphone in December 2015 after realizing the volume of contacts he had accumulated before he became famous. “I had the same number from like age 15, I think,” he explained. “When I got famous, I had 10,000 contacts in my phone, and people would just text all the time. I was constantly in touch with a lot of people.”
He mentioned that phones can create unrealistic expectations about instant replies. “I feel like with phones, everyone expects you to reply, and if you don’t, it’s rude,” he said. “Sometimes you’re just not in the headspace to reply, or you’re busy, and then you reply, and they reply back… and suddenly you’re in like 40 conversations at once.”