Ed Sheeran could be "roaring" with laughter after revealing that his latest tattoo was a hoax.
A photo posted by @teddysphotos on Aug 11, 2015 at 2:36am PDT
The British singer showed off a tat-free Instagram photo on Wednesday, contradicting the post from Aug. 11 in which he displayed a colorful and elaborate lion's head inked across his chest that he had said was only "halfway" complete.
Was only joking about the lion
A photo posted by @teddysphotos on Aug 26, 2015 at 4:31am PDT
"Was only joking about the lion," the pop star captioned his newest snap, a bare-chested shot similar to his pose in the original pic.
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Many fans had taken Ed's new ink seriously, thanks to his dedication to the prank. In addition to sharing visual "evidence," he also Tweeted a shout-out to celebrity tattoo artist Kevin Paul, writing, "Lion is courtesy of @kp_est78 who puts up with me complaining about the pain."
Kevin himself also got in on the joke, telling E! News that the lion image was a work in progress.
"The piece as it stands took about six hours to do but there is still about six hours left to complete the tattoo," the artist said at the time.
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In a BBC interview from July, Ed also explained that his inspiration behind the planned artwork was his love for England's football team, whose mascot is – of course – a lion.
"Originally I was going to get the [Wembley Stadium] floor plan tattooed on my side, but that seemed a bit ridiculous," Ed told the outlet.
The crooner may have enjoyed joking about his faux tat, but he also has a sense of humor about his real ones. Ed sports actual ink of both a teddy bear and Puss in Boots from the "Shrek" franchise.
-- Erin Biglow
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