Ed Sheeran's confession that he identifies culturally as Irish caused backlash online, but his heritage comes after his grandparents' love story which was portrayed in his hit tune, Nancy Mulligan

While the singer-songwriter, 34, was brought up in Suffolk, his father John hails from Belfast , meaning he spent much of his childhood in Ireland.

Before long, headlines along the lines of: “Ed Sheeran says he identifies culturally as Irish” began to emerge on social media, and without the additional context of his dad’s heritage as well as his childhood in Ireland, people were quick to mock the star’s comments.