Tragedy has befallen the British pop singer Ed Sheeran once again as The “Perfect” singer failed to attend his 98-year-old grandmother’s funeral on Wednesday in Ireland due to his ongoing copyright infringement trial in New York.
The pop star’s father, John Sheeran — in an interview with Daily Mail — opened up about how upset his son was due to his inability to be there for his family in this tragic period. At the memorial service, he reportedly became emotional and went on to address the issue of his son’s absence in this eulogy saying,
“I am very sad that our son Edward is unable to be here today. He’s so upset that he cannot be present — he has to be thousands of miles away in a court in America defending his integrity. I know he is comforted by the fact that he was able to spend some precious time alone with his grandma just a month ago.”
Sheeran, who has established his position as one of the biggest musical artists of all time — selling over 150 million records globally — was caught in a web of controversies after he was accused of plagiarizing certain musical elements from Marvin Gaye’s iconic song “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 hit track, “Thinking Out Loud.”
Reportedly, the melody and rhythmic patterns of the two songs were found to be similar. Later, the children of Ed Townsend who co-wrote the song with Gaye filed a suit against Sheeran in 2017 demanding a significant sum of the profit made from the track which they regarded as their father’s intellectual property.
As the trial continues, millions of Sheeran’s fans are awaiting a verdict from the Manhattan jury.
Tragedies and disputes aside, turns out Sheeran was able to make his presence in his family’s sad affair — although not physically — catching the memorial service live online.