Photo: Ladbible
Ed Sheeran snuck up on some unsuspecting fans in London with a little help from a futuristic virtual avatar. Instead of heading to Leicester Square to meet fans IRL, he appeared via video chat on a tablet strapped to another person's head.
With the camera switched off, hiding his identity, Sheeran directed his avatar around the busy square as he tried to get fans to guess who he was. When he finally revealed himself by switching on his camera again, the reactions were priceless.
After revealing his identity, Ed would then stay and chat with the fans for a bit, too. One fan asked him to reveal his most embarrassing moment, which he did. He recalled "pissing himself" at school when he was nine years old, admitting he still thinks about it to this day.
Another young fan asked if the 'Shape of You' singer was going to be dressing up for Halloween. It seems Sheeran has been watching a lot of Netflix recently, as he's going to be a guard from the streamer's blockbuster hit series Squid Game.
Ed even tried to get some passersby to admit they didn't like his music—and one even did. Ed lured them in by faking an American accent and saying the avatar was part of a fake documentary about music people in the U.K. don't like.
While he enjoyed tricking everyone, he also made time to spoil some of his younger fans. He popped into the Lego store and bought a bunch of Harry Potter sets for the kids.
Just a few days before this video dropped, Ed announced he tested positive for COVID-19. "Hey guys. Quick note to tell you that I’ve sadly tested positive for Covid, so I’m now self-isolating and following government guidelines," he wrote on Instagram earlier this week. "It means that I’m now unable to plough ahead with any in person commitments for now, so I’ll be doing as many of my planned interviews/performances I can from my house. Apologies to anyone I’ve let down. Be safe everyone x"
The news of his diagnosis reportedly Saturday Night Live producers scrambling, as the 'Thinking Out Loud' musician had just been announced as an upcoming musical guest. "Ed is offering to perform live via video link, but this isn’t something SNL does,” an insider told Page Six about the siutation. "The show likes to have the performer in studio.” It's unclear at this time whether Ed will still perform.
Ed is getting ready to drop his latest album, = (Equals), on Friday (October 29). He's already released three tracks off the project, 'Bad Habits,' 'Shivers,' and 'Visiting Hours.'