Ed Sheeran finds nothing rewarding about American award shows.
On the heels of his performance at the MTV VMAs, the pop singer spoke to radio host Julia on her Audacy segment "The Julia Show," and he ripped award shows in the U.S., saying, "The room is filled with resentment and hatred toward everyone else."
He adds, "It's quite an uncomfortable atmosphere."
The British pop star claimed that fellow stars are usually great and friendly, but their entourages and teams can be vile, unkind and entitled.
"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," he said.
The tension isn't completely there for show like the VMAs, he argues, but it is palpable at higher-end award shows like the Grammys, American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards.
"It's nothing to do with MTV or the award show, it's at all the other awards shows," Ed, 33, said. "It's just lots of people wanting other people to fail and I don't like that."
Things are less intense at shows in the United Kingdom, where Ed is from.
"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," he said.
Further, Ed asserts that the afterparties in the U.K. are far more fun than those in the United States.
"The afterparties, again … it's not just musicians. It's musicians, all their entourages, then you got influencers and blah blah blah," he said. "People get the same feeling as me at those award shows. I've spoken to people and they're like, 'I just felt really depressed afterward.' 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."
For the record, this isn't a case of sour grapes — Ed has won four Grammys, one AMA and seven Billboard Music Awards. Wikipedia claims he's actually won 117 various awards throughout the course of his career.