Ed Sheeran Likes Justin Bieber’s Music And Thinks His ‘Problem’ Is Us [Video]

Ed Sheeran weighs in on Justin Bieber’s standoff with the press and paparazzi. He also talks about us, the end consumers of media and a pop culture that demands its pound of flesh from celebrities. Especially when they mess up.

Ed Sheeran is the latest celebrity to weigh in on Justin Bieber’s ongoing press stand-off and the unnatural degree of interest – both clickbait media and the casual voyeurism of ordinary people – in Bieber’s every move, word and misstep.

The UK singer-songwriter took America by storm in a slower, stealthier fashion than Bieber’s explosive 2009 nova burst, and his view on the real terms effect of an insane levels of fame on the Canadian singer is an interesting one.

“I don’t think there is any going back from some stuff now,” Sheeran said of Bieber’s white-knuckle ride through 16 months of incidents, faux pas, miscellaneous innocent gaffes and later criminal and civil lawsuits in a recent interview with Power 96.1’s Morning Show based in Atlanta.

Although many commentators have cited Bieber’s separated parents, friends, too much-too young lifestyle and weed love as reasons for “Baby” singer’s paparazzi run-ins, arrest count and all the rest of it, Sheeran has a different angle on why the 20-year-old is never out of the headlines.

“I think he has stable relationships in his life”, Ed told hosts Scotty K & Riley.”I don’t think that’s the problem.”

Explaining, he added: “I think the problem is people expect too much from him [the Biebs], and people want too much and people are very grabby.”

“People follow him around and he doesn’t really have any privacy and never really has had any privacy. I feel like it’s not so much what he needs to do. It’s what we need to do.”

“We need to stop taking such an interest in him, and let him make his music because I genuinely like his music,” Sheeran declared.

Making the point that before the social media revolution and a now rampant 24/7 news cycle in which gossip outlet leader TMZ and others of their ilk pursue celebrities on a level that just didn’t exist 40 years ago, Ed noted:

“James Taylor could be getting up to God knows what and you wouldn’t know.”

Readers will have to decide for themselves whether Sheeran’s insights are right, and whether our collective, insatiable hunger to know every last thing about celebrities — and an industry willing to fill that belly — is part of Bieber’s burden.

For our money, the role of the media — which includes the paparazzi which services it — demanding fans, and the public undeniably plays a role in the toll on Bieber’s attention, life and reputation.

The Inquisitr has previously reported Bieber news stories that were either exaggerated (the “Bieber causes a riot in Walmart” claim, which was based on nothing more than a random Facebook remark and later denied by the store) or baseless. Perez Hilton recently debunked a tabloid’s claim alleging Bieber and his then girlfriend Selena Gomez were caught “snorting cocaine” on video in a Los Angeles nightclub.

Hilton simply spoke to a club rep who confirmed Bieber had never visited their Los Angeles location. Other instances of fabricated scoops or negatively presumptive interpretations of the singer or events can be read here, here, here, here. This one, too, is an eye-opener.

Clearly, Bieber has a hand in the position he now finds himself in, but there is no denying he has been helped along the way to a more stressful place than any youngster should be.

We know an awful lot about Justin Bieber. Some of it is of public interest and newsworthy. But a significant proportion is trivia, important to no-one but him. Yet we demand the right to know it at a kid’s expense, and mostly gleefully.

Do you agree with Ed Sheeran’s view that we should focus on Justin Bieber’s music and not his mistakes, or do you think a lack of privacy is an inevitable price of fame?

Let us know in comments below.