Ed Sheeran continues to confuse everyone by claiming lion tattoo is real

The singer keeps trolling his fans

Ed Sheeran is rumoured to be taking a break to help local causes (Getty) (Getty)

Ed Sheerhan appears to be getting his own back on fans who took issue with his giant lion tattoo by leading the public into believing the tattoo was actually fake.

The singer proudly presented the multicoloured lion to his 4.7 million Instagram followers last week, who were less than impressed by the creation. His new ink was to commemorate three sold out shows at Wembley Stadium, but fans were upset by the latest edition to his burgeoning tattoo collection.

Responses ranged from: "Coming from a guy who loves tattoos that is utterly horrendous I'm sorry bye," to "I'm so mad at Ed's tattoo I feel like it's not even real."

Sheeran responded pragmatically to the fuss, telling Keane singer Tom Chaplin and everyone else who voiced their disapproval: “I like it, and that’s the only opinion that matters”.

But then, there was this:

A photo posted by @teddysphotos on Aug 26, 2015 at 4:31am PDT

Which was swiftly followed by celebrations from his critics, before cries of ‘wait a minute…’ from more perceptive fans.

Less than a day later, we had the truth - or so we are led to believe: the tattoo had been covered up for an appearance on a television show.

A photo posted by @teddysphotos on Aug 26, 2015 at 2:41pm PDT

Is it real? Probably. Maybe not. Who knows.