Ed Sheeran dropped by “The Late Show” last week, where host Stephen Colbert quizzed him about a news story about the singer-songwriter giving Sam Smith a unique and unusual gift: a six-foot-tall sculpture of a penis.
Sheeran admitted the story was true, but insisted there was an explanation.
“Elton John has been involved in my career from the get-go, and he buys me weird gifts,” Sheeran told Colbert. “Just, like, odd gifts, like sexual sort of objects.”
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In preparation for Sir Elton’s 74th birthday last year, Sheeran decided to give a “massive marble penis” statue.
“I got this huge, flopping, droopy thing,” Sheeran said. “I got a few different iterations — there was a big, erect, vein-y one.”
The gift had the desired effect. “I gave it to him for his birthday and Elton was over the moon about it. And then it got out in the press that I had done it,” he said. “And I would be doing interviews and people would be like, ‘Well, can I have one?'”
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One of those people was Smith. “Sam was recording at a studio up the road and Sam saw one of them and said, ‘Can I have one?’ And I said, ‘What would you like?'” Sheeran recalled. “And Sam said, ‘One the size of me. One that’s six-foot-two.’ So there we go. That’s it.”
During a recent appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show”, Smith confirmed the request, but never dreamed Sheeran would actually go through with it.
“It’s actually wild, I thought it was a joke,” the “Stay With Me” singer said. “It’s a six-foot-two marble penis. It’s two tons, and I’m gonna have to get it craned into my house.”
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Smith also shared their plans for the sculpture “Well, I want to turn it into a fountain,” Smith said. “Which I think will be hard to do.”
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” airs weekdays at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on Global.