Ed Sheeran isn't the biggest fan of US award shows. Photo / Getty Images
Ed Sheeran isn't the biggest fan of US award shows. Photo / Getty Images
Thousands watch as celebrities arrive and perform at glittering awards shows like the VMAs - but it turns out it's not all glitz and glamour.
Ed Sheeran performed at this year's MTV VMAs and didn't mince his words when he revealed what it's really like to be there, reports theNew York Post.
"The room is filled with resentment and hatred towards everyone else and it's quite an uncomfortable atmosphere," he said in an interview with The Julia Show.
He hastened to add that it wasn't his fellow performers acting "toxic", but the energy from their entourages and from the setting itself.
"All the artists are sweet people, but they're, like, surrounded by entourages that want them to win, too, so it's one artist surrounded by 10 people and another artist surrounded by 10 people and everyone is kind of giving each other the side-eye," Sheeran said.
He noted not just the VMAs are like this, but that virtually all American awards shows have "aggressive overtones".
"It's nothing to do with MTV or the award show – it's at all the other awards shows," he said of the Grammys, AMAs and Billboards. "It's just lots of people wanting other people to fail and I don't like that."
Sheeran went on to explain that awards shows are much less intense in the UK, mainly because everyone gets drunk instead.
"In England, our award shows are just like everyone gets drunk and no one really cares who wins or loses, it's just sort of a good night out," said the pop star, who has won more than 115 awards from Grammys to AMAS throughout his career.
Ed Sheeran isn't the biggest fan of US award shows. Photo / Getty Images
And the glittery afterparties apparently aren't much better.
"The afterparties, again … it's not just musicians. It's musicians, all their entourages, then you got influencers and blah blah blah," he said.
The pop star claimed he wasn't alone in feeling this way about awards show culture.
"People get the same feeling as me at those award shows," he said.
"I've spoken to people and they're like, 'I just felt really depressed afterwards'. The atmosphere is just not nice. It's a really, really horrible atmosphere to be in there. I always walk away feeling sad and I don't like it."
