Ed Sheeran complains that South Park enticed Americans to mock his ginger hair

Pop singer Ed Sheeran has called out the animated show South Park for enticing Americans to make fun of “gingers.” In the radio show interview, he went on to say that the show’s “Ginger Kids” episode “ruined” his life.

Sheeran ended his 2021 on a good foot, having released his latest album Equals on October 29, 2021. The album contained three singles Bad Habits, Shivers, and Overpass Graffiti. All three of the songs charted on Billboard’s Top 100 list. He re-released the album in December, adding a Christmas song duet with rock star Elton John.

Ed Sheeran on how South Park enticed Americans to mock “gingers”

Sheeran, while a fan of South Park, had some strong words to express about its Season 9 episode which made fun of people born with red hair. The episode, “Ginger Kids”, joked about red hair being “a curse.” The offensive dialogue was sparked by the show’s main character Eric Cartman falling victim to a prank done by his friends. After he wakes up with dyed red hair, he begins to experience prejudice brought on by “gingervitis.”

Speaking up about the episode, Sheeran told Slam Radio, “Having red hair in England was always a thing that people took the p**s out of you for.” He continued to say, “But it was never something in America. People never knew what a ginger was in America.”

The singer went on to say that the episode “ruined his life.” He expressed on the radio show, “That episode of South Park f*****g ruined my life. I was going to America and everyone was like I love your hair dude. And I was like ‘Oh my God, people like my hair?”

However, things changed following the broadcast of the episode. Sheeran recalled, “And then I remember that episode coming out and that was just it worldwide for the rest of my life.”

Ed Sheeran almost quit singing

Sheeran has been an active performer for almost two decades. However, things have not come easy for him. He recently sat down with the TODAY Show to talk about almost quitting his dreams of being a musician.

This thought came to him following the epic success of his album Divide which features the hit songs Shape of You and Castle On A Hill. Sheeran expressed, “The album was bigger than people thought it was gonna be.” He continued, “and then suddenly, you come to the end of this thing and you have the biggest streaming song in the world, the most attended tour in the world, the highest grossing tour in the world, the album sold 25 million copies, and then everyone’s kinda looking at you going, ‘Hey, yeah. We’re gonna do that again, but better.’And I didn’t want that pressure.”

It was then that he decided to start “crafting music for himself” which led to the experimental shift with his fifth studio album Equals.

Ed Sheeran’s latest album Equals is currently streaming on all major music platforms.